The founder and CEO of MNT Halan, how do you like to introduce yourself, Mounir Nakhla?
Well, I am the first Egyptian unicorn, and the first company in the non-banking financial services sector to become a unicorn.
Yes, of course. I am definitely more than my role as a CEO and founder. I am a human being, a normal person with other characteristics. But I have to explain what a unicorn is. A unicorn is a startup that has transformed into a billion-dollar company.
What is the company's value now?
Today I can't say, but one day it was over a billion dollars, and today it's higher than that.
And today it's higher than that. How long did it take to transform from a small startup to a billion-dollar company?
The last journey was from 2018 to 2022, but our roots and foundation go back to 2010. The companies changed and merged and went through different paths, but I started the journey in 2010.
But you started the journey before 2010. You are, of course, the son of one of the most important jewelry manufacturers and designers in Egypt, Nakhla. Nakhla is your father, right?
And your sister Malak, who also works in the beautiful gold we see. Why didn't you work with your father?
He refused. He refused. He told me, 'You want to come work with me and you don't know anything.' So I didn't work with him. But he used to take me to the farm and show me land and what we could do. So I started working there. I started a livestock farm, traded in strawberries, and from strawberries we went to apricots, then mangoes, then figs.
It's very strange. You are one of the few people whose parents refused to let them work with them, especially if they have a business they love and want to develop.
I was upset. I wanted to work in gold. I felt it was safe, a security. But when I didn't work with him, I was forced to stand on my own two feet. I had to work hard and move, and that was the best push I was given.
What did you learn from your parents' work? I think your mother also worked with them.
Yes, they worked together. In our house, they would draw designs and make small items until it became a big business. And they still do. If you go into their homes, you'll see them doing the same things, with the drawings and papers and everything.
The diligence in work, that one should work hard, the importance of money, and that one should be careful with every penny. I learned all of that from him.
You went to study in London.
And you came back. What was the first thing you did?
I was a social researcher.
Yes, I worked for two years on microfinance for projects that receive funding.
And what made you work in microfinance?
My uncle was working with USAID and told me to come and work. I worked with Mounir Nemaat Allah.
Mounir Nemaat Allah, exactly.
So I worked in his office. This was the first period where I traveled all over Egypt's governorates. I went to Asyut, Minya, Dakahlia, Beheira, Kafr El Sheikh. I saw Egypt.
But you are originally from Asyut.
We are from Qusiyat, Qusiyat, Qusiyat. Upper Egyptian, with the accent and dialect and everything. My grandmother used to say 'iftur' and my father would say 'i'gudi janbi'. My father lived to the age of... and I am married to a woman from Qusiyat too.
So you are all from Asyut. Asyut is rooted in Mounir Nakhla, right?
