A Vindication of Motherhood In My Third Place Finish- Nadia Gamal El Din, Founder and CEO of Rahet Bally (Egypt)
December 11, 2022
By Ajong Mbapndah L
[caption id="attachment_102993" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Challenges are there to make us stronger, every round of judging allowed me to scale in the right direction, says Nadia Gamal El Din[/caption]
It was a very long, challenging journey, but I believed that we could make it because we touch millions of mothers’ lives, and motherhood is the world’s biggest asset, says Nadia Gamal El Din, Founder and CEO of Rahet Bally.
Born in Egypt, Nadia Gamal El Din studied finance at the American University in Cairo, after which she started her professional career as an assistant brand manager at Procter & Gamble. She became a mother at the age of 24 and realized there was a huge market gap when it comes to supporting new moms. Consequently, in 2015 she founded Rahet Bally, an all-inclusive platform to support Egyptian mothers financially, physically, emotionally, and intellectually, both online and in person, on top of Rahet Bally Discount App for Moms, Rahet Bally Mama Fitness Programs, the Cloud by Rahet Bally, and Mumerz.com.Challenges are there to make us stronger, every round of judging allowed me to scale in the right direction, and the networking was just phenomenal, says Nadia Gamal El Din as she looks to the future with great optimism.
How satisfied are you with your third-place finish at this year's ABH prize competition? Nadia Gamal El Din: I’m very grateful and honored to win the third place at the incredible ABH prize competition. I believe being in the Top 3 showcases our massive impact across Africa and the vitality of our services. It’s been an incredible journey, and I’ve made my country, my team & my family super proud. I’d like to dedicate this incredible win to my son, who is the reason behind my purpose-driven startup. From over 21,000 contestants, how confident were you of finishing among the top three? Nadia Gamal El Din: It was a very long, challenging journey, but I believed that we could make it because we touch millions of mothers’ lives, and motherhood is the world’s biggest asset. I hoped the judges would realize the immense need for us across Africa, and thankfully they did.What are some of the entrepreneurship skills and lessons that you learned in the course of the Africa’s Business Heroes competition? Nadia Gamal El Din: There are so many entrepreneurship skills and lessons that I’ve learned, honestly. I’ll name a few. I’ve learned grit, determination, self-belief, consistency, giving my 100% every day, critical & creative thinking skills, resilience, and that no dream is too big. Challenges are there to make us stronger, every round of judging allowed me to scale in the right direction, and the networking was just phenomenal. I’ve created so many partnerships that will allow us to scale all across Africa. With the prize money when are some of the changes your business or company is going to see? Nadia Gamal El Din: The prize money will allow us to build our next big thing; Rahet Bally’s superApp - a personalized, empowering gasified experience for mothers covering every stage of motherhood, from conceiving to menopause. We will be able to own our technology, grow our team and scale across Africa. What motivated its creation and what are some of its successes you have registered, and challenges faced? Nadia Gamal El Din: When I became a mother at the age of 24, I realized there was a huge market gap when it comes to supporting new moms. Even though motherhood is one of the oldest professions, with all these ever-growing online chunks of information, in this fast-paced world, there wasn't a single comprehensive, tailored support system for new moms in Egypt. This was the discontinuous shift moment when I realized change was needed, this is when Rahet Bally was born.Rahet Bally—which translates to “peace of mind” in Arabic—was born in August 2015, not long after my son. Rahet Bally now has over 50 million women consuming its content every month!Rahet Bally is an all-inclusive support platform for moms, offering them financial, physical, emotional, social & intellectual support through a wide range of online FemTech services & on-ground services. We are a multi-sided platform offering both B2C and B2B services. I’ve faced a lot of challenges, it’s very tough to be a female founder in Egypt. Disrupting the social norm, going to meetings while carrying my baby, building a support network, having to bootstrap my business for the past 7 years and thankfully was profitable as of year 2 and defied all odds! AWARDS
Rahet Bally has been awarded many prestigious local & international awards over the years, some of which are:
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din, has received the African Women Award 2022 in the Mothercare category.
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din, has won VC4A Venture Showcase Africa in MENA Region 2022.
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din is currently shortlisted at the Top 20 Finalists at African Business Heroes 2022.
Cartier Women's Initiative Laurette 2020
Rahet Bally has won the Most impactful women-led business in MENA region 2020 - it was competing against 70,000 Medium Enterprises
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din, is the Face of #SheMeansBusiness for Facebook
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din, is the Face of #SheCreates for Facebook
Facebook Community Accelerator Award Winner 2020
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din, is the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Egypt
Attended by his Excellency the Prime Minister of Egypt
Rahet Bally's Founder & CEO; Nadia Gamal El Din, has received the Top 3 Inspiring Women in Egypt award by Dove Egypt.
To those who look up to you for inspiration, what are some of the success tips you can share with them? Nadia Gamal El Din: I’d like to share with them the following:
Always believe in yourself; if you never stop, you never fail
Build a team with shared core values your team is your first product & most sustainable competitive advantage
Know that change is the only constant, expect & embrace change, pivot continuously. Agility is very important.
Keep an eye on competition but always remember, you are your only competitor
Imposter syndrome is absolutely normal remind yourself of all the reasons why you deserve to be where you are today
Have empathy & compassion
Just do it, even if it isn’t perfect, the secret recipe is to always start!
Any message you would like to share with fellow ABH contestants, judges and the Jack Ma Foundation/the organizers of the ABH prize competition? Nadia Gamal El Din: I’d like to thank each and every one of them for being an integral part of my growth journey. Thank you for believing in me, thank you for empowering me, thank you for giving me the recognition, appreciation and support I’ve always needed.In a years’ time when we come to interview you, where would your business be from what it is today?Nadia Gamal El Din: We will have scaled to serve at least two new African countries, hired our own in-house tech team, launched our super app, raised our seed round and won some new impact-focused awards!
Challenges are there to make us stronger, every round of judging allowed me to scale in the right direction, says Nadia Gamal El Din[/caption]
It was a very long, challenging journey, but I believed that we could make it because we touch millions of mothers’ lives, and motherhood is the world’s biggest asset, says Nadia Gamal El Din, Founder and CEO of 
Any message you would like to share with fellow ABH contestants, judges and the Jack Ma Foundation/the organizers of the ABH prize competition?
Nadia Gamal El Din: I’d like to thank each and every one of them for being an integral part of my growth journey. Thank you for believing in me, thank you for empowering me, thank you for giving me the recognition, appreciation and support I’ve always needed.
In a years’ time when we come to interview you, where would your business be from what it is today?
Nadia Gamal El Din: We will have scaled to serve at least two new African countries, hired our own in-house tech team, launched our super app, raised our seed round and won some new impact-focused awards!
