Cairo-Based Business For Teens Wraps Up Pre-Seed Funding Round

Cairo-based education startup Business For Teens has concluded an undisclosed six-figure pre-seed funding round to support its growth and expansion across Egypt and the Gulf region, as it scales its entrepreneurship and financial literacy programs for teenagers. The round was led by training and sales expert Salah Abou Elmagd, alongside a group of angel investors. 

Founded by Nadeem Barakat in Cairo in 2024, Business For Teens operates as the flagship edtech program under Grow Academy, a training organization that houses the group’s infrastructure, methodology, and broader training portfolio. While Grow Academy serves as the operating and legal entity, Business For Teens focuses specifically on delivering practical, project-based learning in business fundamentals for teenagers. Its programs combine startup simulations, educational games, and real-world applications, including student bazaars and exhibitions where students present and test their ideas with live audiences. 

Business For Teens will use the newly raised capital to support operational expansion, develop new program offerings, build partnerships with more than 30 schools, and train over 6,000 students by the end of 2026, while scaling its regional presence. 

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Barakat, whose career spans leading growth and business development initiatives at the Cairo-based home furnishing e-commerce platform Homzmart and the Egypt-based digital health platform Chefaa, said the idea for the startup took shape through his exposure to skill gaps he repeatedly encountered in the workplace. “I saw brilliant adults struggling with fundamental business acumen that they should have learned 15 years earlier," he said. "I founded the company to stop that gap before it widens. Today, we are based in Egypt but operating with a regional mindset. Our mission is direct: we are democratizing business education for the youth.” 

That mission is reflected in how the company approaches learning design and student engagement. Since launch, Business For Teens has partnered with more than 10 schools across Egypt and Saudi Arabia and reached over 600 students aged 10 to 16. "We aren't just teaching kids how to sell lemonade; we are building a pre-incubator for the next generation of workforce leaders," Barakat added. "We offer a structured, simulation-based curriculum that transforms students from passive learners into active economic participants before they even graduate high school.”

Training and sales expert Salah Abou Elmagd and Business For Teens founder and CEO Nadeem Barakat.

Critically, Barakat argued that the way young people are educated today has not kept pace with the realities they face once they step outside the classroom. “Traditional curricula are excellent at teaching students what to think, but they often fail to teach them how to value," he noted. "The biggest gap is financial and commercial literacy. Schools teach math, but not how money moves. They teach history, but not how markets evolve. Our programs fill this by focusing on 'applied business intelligence.' We don't just lecture; we simulate real-world pressure.” 

In addition to those gaps, Barakat pointed out that rapid technological change—particularly artificial intelligence (AI)—is factoring into the conversation around future skills. As such, Business For Teens has been revisiting how future-facing skills are embedded into its content. “Regarding the future, the next five years will not be about who can code, but who can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to scale a business model," Barakat pointed out. "We are pivoting our focus to ensure teens understand that AI is a commodity; the real skill is the strategic thinking required to deploy it. We are training them to be the architects of digital business models, not just the users of digital tools.” 

As it expands into new markets, Business For Teens has also been shaping its approach around the social and economic contexts in which students are learning. This includes localizing case studies to reflect the economic realities of the countries it operates in, all while keeping its core methodology the same. That thinking underpins the company’s next stage of product development. Business For Teens plans to introduce three new program levels in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, designed to integrate with different education systems while maintaining consistent outcomes. “We are introducing tiered learning tracks, ‘foundation,’ ‘growth,’ and ‘scale,’ which allow us to plug into different school systems at different entry points,” Barakat explained. “Whether a student is in an American diploma system in Cairo or a National track in Riyadh, the competency outcome remains the same: a teenager fully equipped to draft a profit and loss (P&L) and lead a team.” 

Reflecting on his experience building a startup that specifically targets youth, Barakat offered guidance for founders working at the intersection of education and workforce development, saying, “Stop treating students like kids and start treating them like junior associates. My time at high-growth scaleups like Homzmart and Chefaa taught me that speed and adaptability are everything. The education sector is traditionally slow, but the market isn't. My advice to founders is to build 'agility' into your curriculum. If your content is static, you’re already obsolete. You need to build a product that evolves as fast as the industries you are preparing these students for. Don't sell a syllabus; sell a transformation. Prove to parents and schools that you are the return on investment (ROI) bridge between a diploma and a career.”  

Pictured in the lead image is a scene from a Business For Teens program. All images courtesy Business For Teens.