'ElRe7la' out-of-office experience is a reminder to bring Your Whole Self to your Startup Journey

For the last four years, I spent my days learning about entrepreneurship and innovation at the world's epi-centre of Innovation, SiliconValley. I took pride in soaking myself in events and happenings, trying hard to crack the code of what's it like to be 'Innovative', work on 'something that matters' and 'connect with the world's best talent'. My Eventbrite, Meetup, and foursquare accounts can speak on my behalf; checked-in 379 events so far. I've been to small monthly meetups, hackathons, unconferences/open spaces and large mega conferences everywhere around the SF Bay Area from San Jose to San Francisco. 

Since networking was more than a passion almost an obsession, I decided to share my network with like-minded Middle Eastern entrepreneurs like myself who are refusing the status quo and dedicating their time, talent and resources to building a better future. I co-founded PITME, which aimed at turbocharging the Middle East entrepreneurial ecosystem by connecting it to Silicon Valley resources. As a part of my accelerator efforts 'PITME Labs', I helped organize a lot of events: PITME Catalyst Conference, Hack for Peace in the Middle East among others. 

Coming from such a place of events overload, I thought it was going to be hard to attend any event that would top all that until I joined ElRe7la as a camp facilitator and guest. 

ElRe7la (The Journey) is a 4 day out of office entrepreneurial camp in the desert of beautiful Sinai in Egypt (Nuweiba), held at Ramadan Camp. Entrepreneurs get to travel together, relax, network with each other, attend workshops, work on their business collaboratively and workout on the beach. In addition to enjoying the serenity of nature, activities included six unique workshops, in a not-so-common itinerary, which also includes a 6 am morning fitness hr, artistic expression through a theatrical performance and talent show, diving by B-diver, stress management, and business workshops. 

What was unique about the camp is that it took a holistic 360 approach to the ‘ElRe7la- The Journey’ of an entrepreneur with activities built around their mind, body, and soul.

Here are 5 key takeaways from ElRe7la’s Bootcamp that I want to share with the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem: 

1- Entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs across Egypt are hungry for non-business workshops & activities

There has been an explosion of business happenings across Egypt over the last 3 years sparking the interest of youth (18-35 years) to start entrepreneurial ventures. Most of these events address business skills that entrepreneurs need to acquire to start their businesses like BMC, pitching skills, and how to attract investors. However, there has been little emphasis on the personal development of entrepreneurs, which is essential for them to become run their startups successfully.

To my surprise, the most attended and engaging workshops were those about health and fitness, dealing with family/societal pressures, what happiness means and the romantic life of an entrepreneur. It almost felt like a large number of people have joined ElRehla to find answers to their personal struggles as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship requires a great deal of creative, analytical and interpersonal skills. Thus delivering techniques and tools for personal growth on that front was quite essential and in my opinion is what makes this camp unique. 

2- Fostering collaboration needs tighter social bonds

As most Egyptians would argue, we’re social bees by nature. We look for any excuse or occasion to throw a party and get together. However, collaboration in business is a new concept to most of us. Also, cross-social class dialogue and activities are almost non-existing. While almost everyone rides the same bus in western cultures from the homeless to the super-dressed up lady who happens to work in the financial district, that’s not the case in Egypt.

That's where the social merits of travel come in handy to create dialogue, stronger social bonds and relationships that would most definitely foster collaboration in business for emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems. ElRehla campers founders were able to catalyze building such bonds in hearts and minds of the participants through various well-designed activities like a) team-building activities on the beach, b) an open-mic where people are free to share a piece of their heart with the rest of the group, c) exposing the group to wild experiences like diving, hiking and farming at 'Habiba' Organic Farm. 

3- Social Entrepreneurship is a more popular form of entrepreneurship outside Cairo

A study was published last October by Wamda Research Lab suggests that ICT is a popular choice for entrepreneurial activity in Egypt, representing 69% of funded startups in their research sample. Yet most participating entrepreneurs from outside of Cairo were more inclined to start socially innovative businesses, solving community problems they face daily, such as energy, education, recycling, gender-inequality and others.

Most bootcamps are designed for a specific professional group: Hackathons attract coders, Women in Tech events attract women interested in sciences. However, ElRehla organizers have taken a road less traveled; a more inclusive approach. Designing an entrepreneurial bootcamp that speaks to all. They invited a diverse facilitator team they called 'faci's' from different walks of life like business experts, social innovation experts, NGO leaders, writers, fitness instructors, artists & designers, certified life coaches, sociologists, and psychologists. Such diversity led to rich advice that people were getting from one another about both business & personal challenges.

While most opportunities are centralized in Egypt’s two financial centers Cairo and Alexandria, ElRehla's pilot, volume I, Volume || has attracted 32% of all 200 participants from outside of Cairo. Entrepreneurs from Al-Arish, Al-Menoufiya, Al-Mansoura, Al-Qalyubiyah and Ismailia are among represented governorates.     

5- ElRe7la is a 4-day ‘mini-version’ of the Entrepreneurial Journey Ahead

Lots of articles, other events, and happenings over-romanticise the ‘Startup World’ leaving people wanting the founder/CEO title; being their own boss, the luxury of flexible working hours and playfulness of a young team of startup friends. The ugly truth where the stress, anxiety, financial burdens, responsibility and bumpiness of the road, are rather ignored.

As ElRehla organizers were keen on bringing experienced entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs together in an intimate 4-day trip, the level of depth of personal stories shared at the camp is hard to compare with any 3hr networking event elsewhere. These stories were essential in grounding the expectations of aspiring & early-stage entrepreneurs about the journey ahead. Just like the saying 'Keep your eyes on the stars while your feet on the ground', ElRehla has indeed inspired the participants to look deeper inside themselves for will-power and strength, look around with an open mind and heart to innovate to create change and empowered them with the tools and a support network of 'friends' they made at the camp so that they are more prepared at cracking the challenges of the bigger 'ElRehla' Journey ahead.  

And just in case they get lost or forget when they get back to their busy lives, their ElRehla hand-bracelet will be their reminder. 

‘Wherever you go, go with all your heart’