How an Egyptian Startup Became the First African Lab to Acquire US-FDA Accreditation with Omar Shoukry Sakr

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa podcast So I took a decision to move on from my academic slash research life, went to London, got my MBA and then went back to Egypt to start Nawa Scientific.

[00:00:13] What does it actually take to take research in Africa to the next level? We have about one million scientists, can you imagine the number in Africa? But this didn't work because there are no very well equipped labs to put them on the supplier side.

[00:00:29] So we had to do it the hard way. The business model we're working with is very much designed for Africa and to solve African problems. So yes, it is very much related to Africa. Stay tuned as we bring you inspiring people who are unlocking Africa's economic potential.

[00:00:47] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa podcast with your host Terser Adamu. Welcome to the Unlocking Africa podcast where we find amazing people who are doing amazing things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today we have another special guest,

[00:01:07] we have Omar Shoukry Sakr, who is the CEO and founder of Nawa Scientific, a company on a mission to revolutionize the way people do scientific research in Africa and beyond. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast Omar. How are you?

[00:01:26] I'm fine. Thank you so much. Thank you for that great introduction. I'm so much excited to be here with you. Brilliant. I'm very excited to have you on the podcast. I think you're actually the first scientist that we've had on the podcast. So looking forward to that conversation.

[00:01:40] No pressure, huh? No, no, no, no. So I guess to get us started, I was hoping you can give us an introduction and tell us a bit more about Omar. Absolutely. My name is Omar Sakr. I'm a pharmacist by education,

[00:01:58] and then I was an academic for 18 years straight. So typical academic journey. I was appointed at my university as a top student. And then I got my master's degree in pharmaceutical sciences. Then I got myself a job as a junior researcher in a small pharmaceutical company in Berlin,

[00:02:18] Germany. I spent there three years and then got back to academia, got my PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Geneva, and then was appointed at the university also as a postdoc for a bit of time. But during this time in Berlin and in Geneva,

[00:02:36] I was working very closely with a very vibrant biotech ecosystem. I came to know what are startups? What are biotechs? It might seem funny, but I actually realized that a pharmaceutical company isn't always a big huge Pfizer-like or Pfizer-sized company.

[00:02:57] But it can be actually a bunch of smart scientists who are working in the value chain of drug development. So I took a decision to move on from my academic slash research life, went to London, got my MBA from Hull Business School,

[00:03:13] couple of years of business studies, and then went back to Egypt 2015 to start Nawa Scientific. So this is a little bit about me. Also I'm a father of five adorable kids and four daughters, one son. Yeah, blessings. And I'm very passionate about education and training.

[00:03:34] I still teach at the university from here. And then I go as an adjunct professor a couple of days per week. Fantastic. So you're a pharmacist, academic, worked across Europe, where you had your introduction into the world of startups,

[00:03:50] which has led you to where you are now with Nawa Scientific. So can you tell us about the inception of Nawa Scientific and what inspired you to start this venture? Okay. So actually Nawa is the nucleus in Arabic. So we can translate Nawa into nucleus in English.

[00:04:10] And nucleus is a word we heavily use as scientists. You know, if you're a chemist, there is a nucleus, if you're a physicist, if you're a biologist, so on and so forth. So this is where the name came from.

[00:04:21] Back in time when I was in Berlin and then in Geneva, I was very much impressed by the ease of doing science. Actually you have all the facilities at the tips of your fingers. And all you have to do as scientists is to think

[00:04:38] and to challenge the status quo and to be creative and to be curious. Okay. And then actually I felt very bad about so many brilliant scientists in Egypt and in Africa that I know by heart, they are even much smarter than myself.

[00:04:56] And they were just not super lucky to get this chance to travel abroad. And this brought me to think, what does it actually take to take research in Africa to the next level? So one thing I have to say here on your podcast is,

[00:05:11] we absolutely have no problem with human calibre in Africa. Yes. Statistics says that we have about 1 million scientists. Can you imagine the number in Africa? 1 million scientists, many of them are bright-minded. They got their degrees in top universities across the globe.

[00:05:28] They came back to Africa mainly for family reasons, cultural reasons. And then when they are brought back, all they have is a bunch of insufficient and outdated research facilities. So we have huge, huge potential and no one is tapping into that.

[00:05:43] So this is how the story was actually created. I thought, okay, let's create something that is small as a nucleus and then we take it bigger and bigger and bigger to serve as much African scientists as possible. And this is how we came up with the name Nawa.

[00:05:58] Brilliant. Brilliant. I like that. So you touched on a key point there in terms of you saw the ease of doing science in Europe. So if you look at Africa, what challenges did you face in the initial stages of establishing Nawa Scientific

[00:06:14] and how have you managed to overcome these challenges? Okay. So actually challenges in this are like countless. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So let's put it this way. The startup ecosystem in other fields have already taken several sprints ahead and this is great.

[00:06:37] I mean, I'm very proud of the African FinTech. I'm very proud of the African AgriTech. Okay. IdiotTech is now catching up. But let's be honest. How many African startups in the biotech slash life sciences you are aware of and you're like very much in deep

[00:06:54] with the African startup ecosystem? Well, very few. Okay. So we need a lot of elements to have a strong biotech African ecosystem. We need investors. We need ecosystem builders. We need accelerators. We need incubators. We need mentors. We need successful stories. We need exits.

[00:07:13] You know, we need everything is still very nascent. Yes. Yeah. Very, very nascent part of the ecosystem. So when we started, we had to deal with that all. So I will speak on my story first. Of course, we had issues with legal authorities.

[00:07:27] Like when I went to the government to say, okay, guys, I am building a cloud lab, which is probably in a nutshell how do we operate to achieve scalability is that we offer analytical services and research services to the research community and to companies in need

[00:07:44] of our services like pharma companies, food companies, petrochemicals and so on. How does now work? Now if you're a client, you log onto our website. We have an online platform with all types of tests that we can offer. And you say, okay, I want to analyze samples ABC

[00:08:01] and to do one to three of tests. You upload your order, then you pay online, check out, goodbye. Our platform is connected to couriers. So the courier company comes to you, pick up your order, bring it to us. We do the analysis.

[00:08:15] We send you the results back online. Very straightforward. So when I pitched this to the government, they didn't know actually how to legalize us. Are you a pharma company? No. Are you a medical lab? Absolutely no. We do nothing that is close to medical lab.

[00:08:31] We differentiate ourselves from a typical medical lab that you can see in the street doing blood analysis and so on and so forth. So they didn't find actually a pocket place us and therefore to legalize our work. And this took like a year just to convince

[00:08:46] the authorities that we're actually doing something good. So this was one. Probably another very solid challenge was fundraising. Challenges didn't know that a lot of potential exist within the scientific ecosystem. And I guess we as scientists are to blame because we're super enclosed on ourselves.

[00:09:05] We are not part of the other vibrant sort of ecosystems. Investors cannot see obvious benchmarks to compare to and therefore they were so much hesitant to deploy funds. It took me two years to raise the very first seed round or precede even.

[00:09:23] And it was let's say very complicated funding ground at that time. So legal then financial and then comes the trust issue. And this was even more hard. Now my business is to tell companies and tell scientists who are already good calibers that guys I can do stuff

[00:09:42] you cannot do and you have to trust my results. This is a very, very hard pitch. You see. So we had to work very, very hard to build this trust. And probably during the podcast I will walk you through

[00:09:55] how many accreditations we had to get to build this strong and solid trust. But I can tell you we identified ourselves early on that we are in a trust based business. So if we're not getting the trust of our customers

[00:10:10] by all means and means can be different like accreditation, certificates, but also the protocols of our work. So for example, tell you one trick here. In our early days, we used to offer clients to send us some control samples.

[00:10:27] Control samples mean okay you want to analyze like nine samples. I tell you send 10 samples. One of them you actually know the result of, but I don't know. And I will do the 10 samples for you and I will charge you only for nine.

[00:10:42] And then when you check the results of the 10 samples and you know that the control sample is actually correct, then you can trust the result of the other nine samples. So this was one trick we used to do, although it is a cost.

[00:10:57] Like I'm doing some work for free, but we had to do it this way to convince our customers of our trust. So I would say those were the major ones, the legal, the financial and the trust in the beginning. Thank you for sharing that.

[00:11:11] So I'm assuming you've had some of the challenges with the overall infrastructure and things as you was mentioning, having to receive samples and then deliver results. So what strategies have you used to overcome infrastructure challenges and logistical constraints in certain regions of Africa?

[00:11:32] Actually infrastructure was let's say the challenge that we are addressing. The availability of labs were not there. In the beginning by the way, we thought okay let's do attack business. We do a platform where people can just upload their samples like a marketplace for labs in a plan.

[00:11:48] Yes. But this didn't work because there are no, let's say very well equipped labs to put them on the supplier side. You know marketplace has a demand side and a supplier side. So we didn't find a supplier side. So we had to do it the hard way.

[00:12:04] I had to build the infrastructure but there is no going around and it took us years to build a very, very well equipped lab literally like four years and we had so little support at that time.

[00:12:16] But then investors and our board started to see that we're actually growing as quick as probably attack company because the demand was there. Market was super congested with demand and when we unlocked the old, let's say that we ticked all the boxes like we have the equipment,

[00:12:33] we have the team, we have the accreditation, we started flying at a good speed. So to answer your question, we started partnerships with as much possible of labs but we can only work with what is available.

[00:12:48] We had to do the hard way, build our own very well state-of-the-art equipped labs. And one thing I would like to share here is you know this saying do it now, apologize later. Yes. Okay so we did this several times. We start launching services and doing stuff

[00:13:07] and then the government actually comes to realize the value of what we're doing. And they like a little bit angry or pissed in the beginning but then we talk together, we show them the value, we show them that we're actually helping the local industries and the local ecosystem.

[00:13:24] They say okay next time you should do so and so and so and then we discover or we make them sort of legalize our situation. So we had like to kick the door and go in and apologize later. We did this several times.

[00:13:40] Fantastic but it looks like you've kicked the door down and also gained a seat at the table at the same time. Yes. Fantastic. So you mentioned people's perception of science in Africa or research facilities in Africa. So what impact would you say that has had on your ability

[00:13:59] to grow and acquire new customers? Okay I would say there were some positive sides to it and some negative sides. On the positive side being in Africa we understand the market better than companies coming from outside. Let me tell you an example.

[00:14:17] The ubers of our market let's put this way, so the big big companies working in this field of scientific and industrial analysis are not present in Africa totally. They are present everywhere all the other continents with exception to Africa.

[00:14:32] So guess why they did not have our build labs in Africa because they feel it is hard to penetrate the market. So because we're African, we're raised here, we know the market dynamics, we could build a model that actually fits to the African dynamics.

[00:14:47] So I believe this was a positive side. On the negative side when I'm trying to sell services to customers out of Africa I typically get this hesitation marks like yeah maybe like are you sure that you're solid enough to tackle those very advanced high tech scientific problems?

[00:15:10] And we try to convince them that yes, we have the caliber, we have the team, we have the machines, we have the instruments, we have the infrastructure, we have it all and we can do it to you at half of the price

[00:15:21] that you can get from another life science supplier in Europe. So this is on the negative side, Africa still doesn't have a strong reputation on science but I'm happy that we are counteracting this reputation and I do believe that by time

[00:15:37] and there are so many smart African scientists building their biotechs now we will one step at a time improve this reputation. Fantastic. So you mentioned you understand the market and you can model your services to suit that market and we know that when you enter a market

[00:15:55] that is still as you mentioned in its nascent stages or phases sometimes you have to almost vertically integrate and put yourself within the full value chain and be involved in areas that you didn't initially anticipate. Is this something that you've had to do yourself?

[00:16:14] This wasn't actually a big problem for us because as I told you, the market was super much congested so we had so much opportunities and we had the luxury of choosing. But what happened is the following, when we started

[00:16:27] we started as a pure service provider for research activities and by research here I mean academic research. So my only client was university scholars, master students, PhD students, professors but I was serving this category only in Egypt. Then a couple of years later

[00:16:46] we realized that with the same infrastructure we have we can actually start serving industries. So we not pivoted but we expanded our scope of services to pharma industry and pharma industry in Egypt is very, very strong probably one of the strongest in Africa.

[00:17:02] So this was also a great market and there was a very good traction and this took our sales to the next level. Three years later we realized, okay let's now extend our scope more to the food and agriculture industry. We analyze now everything from soil to finished products

[00:17:19] and anything in between and this extension also took our sales to the another next level. And when we see it from a top picture, life sciences scope is huge. We can go to petrochemicals, we can go to geology, mineralogy, we can go to chemical industries, dyes.

[00:17:39] It's almost endless. I mean I can keep mentioning other market segments. So you see this huge potential realized here in Africa and very, very few companies are playing in this field. I would definitely invite other players to come and join

[00:17:54] and develop this market more because playing alone is not so good for the market dynamics. Getting back to your question, we were not like forced to do something we were not prepared for. We had the luxury of choosing. Amazing, amazing. So you've detailed some of the sales growth

[00:18:10] and potential areas of work that you have within your field. So maybe you can go into more detail regarding some of the most significant milestones or achievements now our scientific has accomplished since its inception. Sure. I would definitely say the expansion from one market

[00:18:33] segment to the other market segments. So we were only serving the university or academic research market and then pharma industry were now market leader in Africa in providing services to pharma companies for three years straight then now expanding to the food and agriculture industry.

[00:18:51] So this is one line of milestones. Also on the geographical side, we started in Egypt. Now we have presence in Jordan. We have presence in Saudi. We are hopefully this year opening in Rwanda and in Cape Town to amazing markets, very potential markets.

[00:19:10] You guys definitely have to check those markets mind blowing. Also on the accreditation side and this one I wanted to stop a little bit here. As I told you we were and we are in a trust based business

[00:19:25] and the more trust we can gain, the more clients we can land as straightforward as that. So how our industry works, you have to get what we call international accreditation for your results so that when you get a certificate from now on,

[00:19:39] you can present it in Nigeria, in Germany and the US, in France, whatever and it should be accepted. And for that you have to get the so-called ISO 17025 certificate and there are international accreditors and you have to go to them, invite audits and invite inspectors

[00:19:58] to come and inspect your lab to give you the certificate. By the end of 2020, early 2021, we started getting this certificate and it is a very, very meticulous process and you get certified per test. So do not come and certify the whole organization together. They certify you per test.

[00:20:19] So it's a very, very, really meticulous process but the amount of effort and investment put there was definitely worth it because when we became an accredited supplier or was accredited analytical center, the big guys came. So now multinationals are my client.

[00:20:38] The likes of Danone is my client, Novartis is my client, Big Farma names, Big Food names, so on and so forth. Then just last year, we wanted to upgrade our game. So we thought, okay, what is the highest accreditation in the field of food analysis?

[00:20:55] And this was the US FDA accreditation. So we got in contact. It was another very, very meticulous process and by October of last year, we got the certification as US FDA accredited lab for food analysis. Just to tell you how rare is this last certificate,

[00:21:17] if you go to the FDA website, you can find a list of those labs. We are the only lab in Africa that is US FDA accredited. Yes. Wow. Yes, so this is how we are investing in the accreditation process because again, as I told you and keep saying,

[00:21:36] we are in a trust-based business. So the more trust we can get, the more clients we can land. Now, the minute we got this certificate, we unlocked another segment of clients who are the food exporters. Now, if you want to export food from Africa to the US,

[00:21:54] the typical process is you have to send samples to them. They will analyze the sample and then they give you a release so that you can send the whole batch. But the process takes a lot of time and sometimes the food actually accidents happen.

[00:22:07] So after you send the samples, the original batch can be damaged or something bad can happen. Now we shorten this process a lot. Now you can send us samples. We get you the results in a few days and then you can ship immediately to the US

[00:22:21] because we are a US certified lab. So you see it's not only for us, we're helping the local production very much. Fantastic. In terms of being the only African company that has this accreditation, how do you believe this will contribute to advancing scientific research in Africa

[00:22:40] and just the general ecosystem as well? Absolutely. So as I told you on a direct level, we are now enabling the local producers to analyze their stuff and ship immediately to the US, saving them a lot of time and money. But the indirect value is actually much,

[00:22:57] much more bigger than that. First, we have proved to the world that you remember my point about the reputation of science in Africa? Yes. We're showing the world that we, by all means, we are none inferior to other labs in US or Europe.

[00:23:15] This is not only to us as now, and not only to Egypt, but to the whole African scientific ecosystem. And I can tell you that there are labs in Europe and the US that are not even certified to this level.

[00:23:27] If you remember the point of facing this science reputation in Africa, this is a great addition to that in the bigger scheme of things. Also, this is inspiring to the next generation of scientists to dream big and to aim high. Okay? We're none inferior.

[00:23:45] We can get the highest standards, we can get the highest certificates, and we actually can beat other players in their own market. So we hope this delivers a strong message, and we got very, very good feedback on that from other colleagues who congratulated us on that.

[00:24:01] And we told them about the process, and we really hope that so many other African labs can be also getting this level of accreditation. I guess this achievement doesn't happen alone. It requires a level of collaboration and partnerships.

[00:24:17] I was wondering if you can touch on in terms of what role do you believe collaboration has played in your approach and also the achievements that you've gained or achieved so far? Absolutely. Let me put it like this.

[00:24:31] The potential we're tapping into is the pool of African scientists. Okay? So most of those African scientists are working for universities, and they feel secured working for the university. And it's not easy to convince them to become like full-time workers in a startup,

[00:24:53] because you know startups are unstable, they can lose their job. It might be very hard to retain their, I mean to restore their job if things happen. So from day zero, we thought, okay, for those senior scientists, for those amazing people with amazing experience,

[00:25:08] we have to create a hiring program that can maintain the best of the two worlds for them. What would a university professor dream of having? They dream to have amazing lab, they dream to have amazing publications coming from their group. They dream of having the research activity

[00:25:28] non-stopped by all these commercial activities. So this is how we brought this collaboration. Now our pitch to what we want like to headhunt our professor from the university. You are coming to work at Nawa with flexible working hours. So basically when you have time,

[00:25:46] you have to do this amount of hours per week at your ease, at your schedule. Second, you have the ability to use our lab for your own research within a certain scheme of work. And we're going to finance your research activity. So for them it's like heaven. Brilliant.

[00:26:06] Yeah, and I can tell you the turnover rate is super, super minimal. We have professors working with us for like eight years, like since we started. Very, very few professors actually left and they left mainly because they left the whole of Egypt now.

[00:26:22] So they didn't leave Nawa technically. They got an opportunity to leave to another country. So I believe this working environment for the senior scientists enabled them really to like, sail freely in the seas of the oceans of science and to feel empowered and to become creative

[00:26:42] and to have the courage to tackle the untackled and tap the untapped because we're taking the risk away. I'm paying for that. You just have to try and try and try. Yeah, so absolutely. I mean without being flexible and giving the power to those scientists,

[00:27:00] I don't think this can fly anyway. So you mentioned about headhunting scientists from universities. So I wanted to kind of look closer, more in terms of the collaboration side, in terms of how do you go about collaborating with the local research institutions, universities and government agencies

[00:27:20] in order to support scientific innovation on the continent? Sure. We do a lot on this front. For example, we apply for what I call a joint project. You know, there are always some calls for grants, for research projects. We do partner with universities, with local agencies,

[00:27:41] and institute scientific institutes. And by this way, we actually do sort of a tech transfer from our side to them and from them to us. So exchange information. We apply as a team. We enjoy the rewards as a team, publications as a team.

[00:27:58] We find this very, very much helpful. Also one good trick we did was to partner with the local agencies of the big companies, the companies producing analytical machines. So for example, you know, analytical work or scientific work depends on having state-of-the-art equipment in your lab.

[00:28:16] And those equipment are bloody expensive. Yes. So one approach was we go to the local agency of one of those brands. Just like I cannot mention names, so let's keep it this way. And tell them, okay, guys, you have an amazing equipment.

[00:28:30] I've seen your equipment working in Geneva or Berlin, so I do believe in your brand, but we cannot afford and universities you're trying to sell to also cannot afford. So how about this? You can deploy your machine in our lab

[00:28:46] and we will pay you through an installment program with no interest, but in return, we're actually doing a great, great marketing for you. We have huge social media presence. We have like 150k followers on our Facebook, page and a closer number on our Instagram.

[00:29:04] So we tell them the minute your machine is actually deployed in our lab, we will do our social media magic, we'll spread the word, we will invite scientists to come and work and they pay per sample. They do not have to pay for the full machine.

[00:29:19] And then guess what happens when a scientist like a professor fall in love with the machine when he gets a grant, he will come back to you and order another machine for his own lab. By this partnership, we actually generated a lot of sales for our partners

[00:29:34] and at the same time, we could deploy those machines before or ahead of the market and at very much reduced price and at an installment plan that a typical buyer cannot afford. So this also worked very well. Amazing, so you've detailed quite an innovative approach

[00:29:50] to gaining access to state of the art equipment. This leads on to one of our next questions in terms of how do you stay updated with some of the latest advancements and trends in the natural and medical sciences space, so that you can continuously enhance what you're doing?

[00:30:11] We're actually very active in attending conferences, exhibitions. I would say we are not missing a single event in Egypt and North Africa. Last year, we tried also to catch up with other events. I attended Nigeria, attended the BioAfrica in Durban. And so we try as much as possible

[00:30:30] to be actively participating in exhibitions in Africa and beyond. So we keep ourselves updated. We keep ourselves in touch with the new technologies, the new trends. And we have our own research activities. So we also do publish our internal research work. So this is a peer reviewed process.

[00:30:53] And in this peer reviewing, we learn a lot about what's happening, what are the new critics, what are the points that we should take care of, what are the new guidelines, and so on and so forth. So you mentioned that you have your own internal research facilities,

[00:31:07] which I guess keeps you ahead of the trends and also enables your staff internally to continuously improve. So maybe if you look at some of the talent that you have, are you working with just established or advanced scientists or is there some kind of scheme

[00:31:24] to develop the next generation of scientists and researchers on the continent? Yeah. We're actually like a full university. So we have fresh grads, top students, and then we have master students, PhD students, and then post-docs, then associate professor, then full professor. So we have literally the full scheme

[00:31:42] as if we are a small university. So our hierarchy from actual perspective and the scientific team looks like a university one. And this gives the natural momentum. So fresh grads want to get his master degree, master student wants to get his PhD degree,

[00:31:58] and so on and so forth. So these people work across multiple industries or are people focused on a specific sector and area? As of now, now we have three main industries we're serving, the food and agriculture, the pharma and the general life science.

[00:32:18] And the general life science unit has 13 different labs. So we do all the stuff from cancer research, nanotechnology, virology, microbiology, and different types of chemistry. So within the life science unit, we do have different labs and then we have two other units, pharma and food.

[00:32:37] Brilliant. So working across a range of sectors, how does Nawa Scientific address the unique needs and challenges of clients in different industries? I would say that having a special team an independent business unit for each industry is the answer to your question. We have an independent team,

[00:32:57] fully independent unit for each of those sectors I mentioned. Sales team, dedicated sales team, dedicated marketing team, dedicated scientific team. So it is as if from the inside, Nawa is divided into three different companies. So the pharma unit is as if a full company

[00:33:17] and now this focus will allow them to keep in touch with the client very much. I guess it kills any company if you get distant from your clients. So you stop understanding them, you stop speaking their language, you start offering them services

[00:33:34] they are not interested in and so on. And we have seen a lot of those examples happening. So we keep our ears to the ground, we learn a lot from our customers and we're super flexible. And I guess it is a culture here in Nawa

[00:33:49] that we are not, let's say stuck with our opinions. We change our opinions quite frequently. We believe that we are agile, we learn from our customers and then we adapt. We pivot a lot on how we price our services on how we offer our services.

[00:34:06] Should it be this way or that way? We do it how the client prefer and I guess this is the way that we can navigate the ongoing challenges in Africa. So you've detailed the general business model and structure of the company. So would you say the business model

[00:34:24] is more focused on long-term sustainability and growth of scientific research in Africa? Oh yes, definitely. Definitely. Because this business model, for example, will not work if we launch in Europe or in the US. This is very much designed for the African ecosystem. Tell you why?

[00:34:44] Because in Europe and the US, they have a lot of small players that they can do the stuff we're doing. I mean, if I'm in the US or Europe, I would probably create like a marketplace because there are so much on the demand side

[00:34:57] and so much on the supply side. But the business model we're working with is very much designed for Africa and to solve African problems. So yes, it is very much related to Africa. How would you say the regulatory framework and compliance requirements in Africa impacts your business model?

[00:35:17] In the beginning, we had challenges to get ourselves legalized. But then when we crack that point and we're good, I would say the current development in the regulatory frameworks are actually playing in our favor. For example, so many African countries, Egypt included, is upgrading their quality certification

[00:35:38] for food and pharmaceutical products. And this requires a lot of testing and we are the guys doing testing. So you see it plays in our favor. It is improving the market size and creating much more demand. So the more the government is pushing on quality,

[00:35:55] the more my business will thrive. Amazing. So as they're updating these quality requirements and standards within Africa, is there a certain model that they're replicating or emulating? Is it a model safe instance, similar to what you'll see in Europe or in the US?

[00:36:13] Yeah, I would say those are international guidelines you know like by WHO. And in Africa we were late in applying those and forcing companies and industries to abide by those guidelines. This is now happening. We can see efforts in so many different African countries

[00:36:32] pushing the local industry to abide by quality and telling them this is the only way you guys are growing. We are focused on the health and the life quality of our citizens. And from business perspectives, this is the only way for you guys to export

[00:36:48] and to tackle international markets. And you know, exporting now is a big, big thing in Africa because of the whole currency crisis we're having. The only way to get more hard currency is to export. So in total it plays in our favor. Governments are pushing.

[00:37:05] The industry is also motivated to improve the quality of their products. And they are of course following the international guidelines on that. Brilliant, brilliant. So I mean that's really good to hear and I hope to see it happening a lot more over the next couple of years.

[00:37:20] In terms of that, that's a new trend that we're seeing. So in your opinion, what are some of the most exciting or promising trends currently emerging from the scientific research space in Africa? I would say for me personally, what is very exciting is to see more and more

[00:37:38] senior scientists becoming entrepreneurs. So yeah, I'm trying to keep as much as possible in connection with the ecosystems in so many different African countries and I can confirm that the trend of becoming an entrepreneur like a scientific entrepreneur or biotech entrepreneur is getting more momentum.

[00:37:58] I wouldn't say it is trendy now, but it's definitely good getting there. The professors came to know like academia is not the end of things and doing a lot of research without applications in the market is actually killing your idea. So you can actually push your ideas

[00:38:16] from the lab to the market. We see some, which is another trend, I would say modest or small steps from investors to create funds that are dedicated to this space. Still young, still nice and still baby steps, but at least it is happening. We didn't have those before.

[00:38:35] So I believe also investors are exploring the potential in this ecosystem. Brilliant. So if we go from current trends and look at the future, future of Africa, where you see Africa's scientific research space in the next five years time. I would say I expect the emerging

[00:38:54] of what I call the next generation African biotech startups for a reason. Now myself and existing companies, I would say we are the first generation because we're tackling the infrastructural issues. We're tackling the grass root problems. We're not tackling to be honest, the most innovative things.

[00:39:17] But now that the second generation of African biotech startups are actually leveraging our solutions to create the next things. And I'm very proud that we're partnering with so many young brilliant scientists building their own startups in Egypt and beyond. And I truly wish them all the best,

[00:39:33] bringing new and novel products to the market. And I guess this is a very, very healthy development to see next generation of companies doing more innovative stuff. So if we look closer to home, where do you see yourself

[00:39:48] and what work will you be doing in five years time? You know, what role does NOAA Scientific envision in terms of playing in the future of scientific research and innovation in Africa? We believe we still have a very hard mission to accomplish.

[00:40:04] We want to expand across the whole content of Africa. We have still so many markets to develop and conquer and provide our services to. So I like to say that in five to 10 years, I hope that we are literally empowering the whole African scientific ecosystem

[00:40:25] from north to southeast west. And I believe it's happening starting this year with our expansion to Kigali and Cape Town. We will add more African taste to our experience. And yeah, I hope God blesses these efforts. And in five years, we meet again.

[00:40:43] And I tell you, we're now present in like 20 different African countries. Inshallah, I believe so. Inshallah, yeah. As people, we often have quotes, mantras, proverbs or affirmations that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good.

[00:40:59] Do you have one that you can share with us today? Okay, this was surprising. Probably the one on top of my head is sometimes you have to do it the hard way. Yes. Because when we started, to be honest, we thought of all the shortcuts,

[00:41:19] all the work arounds to avoid confessing that we need to build the infrastructure by ourselves. But you know, someone has to do it. And we decided that, okay, sometimes you have to do it the hard way. Sometimes there are no work arounds, no shortcuts.

[00:41:36] And when you get in peace with that, actually your life gets much better. So I would say this is the quote I would leave here. Brilliant. And I totally believe it because a lot of the time when I have conversations about innovation within Africa,

[00:41:50] there's always this thought that you can leapfrog most advancements, but that's not always the case. A lot of situations you need to actually do the hard work and there's no work around because you have to build the foundations. Absolutely, absolutely. Yes. Fantastic.

[00:42:07] So we've come to the close of today's conversation. It's been a fantastic conversation. As I said at the beginning, you're the first scientist on the podcast. So it's a new and most welcome direction in terms of seeing what's happening in the scientific research space on the continent.

[00:42:25] So do you have any closing remarks, final course or action for people who are interested in the work that you're doing? I would like to address my beloved colleagues and the scientists in the African ecosystem listening to your podcast today. You guys are amazing.

[00:42:41] You have a lot of potential, probably more than you can think of. All you need is to put your courage out there and push your ideas from the lab to the market. Africa has a lot of problems that the Western world

[00:42:56] will not tackle because they don't feel it. They don't feel the urge to do it. And maybe it's not financially viable. So we are the African scientists and there are problems that are down to us to solve. And I would leave it at that point.

[00:43:12] I have full trust in the African scientific ecosystem that in the coming five years, we can actually develop some home-born, home-developed innovative solutions to tackle our own problems. And we can hopefully celebrate those achievements soon. Insha'Allah. Amazing, amazing. What a fantastic way to close today's conversation.

[00:43:35] Thank you Omar for joining me on the podcast. It's clear that your commitment to excellence and your dedication to empowering the research will continue to shape the future of scientific research on the continent. Keep doing the amazing work that you're doing

[00:43:49] and I look forward to seeing your progress and the impact that you will have. Thank you so much for having me today. I enjoyed the discussion, was like speaking from my heart. Okay, all the best. Thank you Omar, we will speak soon. Okay, thank you so much.

[00:44:08] Was lovely talking to you. Bye bye. Thank you to everyone who has listened and stayed tuned to the podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share or tell a friend about it. You can also rate reviewers in Apple Podcast or wherever you download your podcast.

[00:44:26] Thank you and see you next week for the Unlocking Africa podcast.