Follow The Money: 54 Collective's Aly El Shalakany

For Follow The Money, the cover story for Inc. Arabia's January/February 2025 issue, we tapped industry leaders for insights to guide your moves in the MENA entrepreneurial landscape in 2025. In this piece, we go one-on-one with Aly El Shalakany, managing director at 54 Collective, on the opportunities he and his firm are keeping an eye on this year. 

Aly El Shalakany, managing director for Egypt and North Africa at the Johannesburg-headquartered investment firm 54 Collective, brings over a decade of experience as an angel investor to his approach to venture capital (VC). According to El Shalakany, one of the keys to successful early-stage investing is identifying disruptive technologies years before they reach mainstream adoption. “Early-stage investing is a contrarian sport, so folks like me need to try and figure out what technologies will be disruptive many years from now,” he explains. “That doesn’t mean we should no longer invest in trends dominating today, like artificial intelligence (AI), but we need to identify where the next bounce of the ball will be within that technology, and to hopefully back the right horse that can execute on that new technology.” 

Reflecting on the trends that defined 2024 that he expects to continue to gain traction in the Middle East and Africa in 2025, El Shalakany – who also authors a blog called Beyond the Rubicon – points to technologies like generative AI, alongside industries like fintech, logistics, and e-commerce, as well as the new subcategories emerging within each of those sectors. Two key sectors he sees as having significant potential include climate adaptive and mitigative technologies, which are being driven by the accelerating impact of climate change, as well as software-as-a-service (SaaS) startups, particularly those that have the DNA to become globally competitive. 

Looking at the MENA region at large, El Shalakany says that investors tapping into its entrepreneurial scene, especially in the tech arena, will be increasingly pressed to add value. “The leading markets in the GCC when it comes to tech are Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but there are others who are keen to join the party, like Qatar, Iraq, and Oman,” El Shalakany says. “If you look at the former group of markets, they are not as nascent as they once were; so, if you plan to invest in these markets in 2025, you will need to come up with a strategy that adds value. That could be related to the investment stage, or providing more thematic expertise. In my opinion, there is still a lot of room for successful operators to switch over to the investing side.” As for up-and-coming markets in the region, while they are quickly gaining traction, El Shalakany advises patience. “For the newer markets looking to build their ecosystems, these represent very exciting opportunities, but realistically, it will take time before they can produce regionally competitive disruptive startups,” he concludes. 

Pictured in image is Aly El Shalakany, managing director at 54 Collective. Image courtesy 54 Collective.

This article first appeared in the January/February issue of Inc. Arabia magazine. To read the full issue online, click here.