A Cairo Startup Aims to Modernize the City's Street-Merchant Infrastructure

Over the past six decades, Cairo’s streets have slowly been eaten away by a bustling industry. Originally birthed out of a government-sponsored program to employ ex-convicts, vendors manning kiosks full of soda, cigarettes, and cheap consumer goods have overwhelmed Egypt's largest city. At times, the country's much maligned Interior Ministry has retaliated by forcing informal kiosk operators to close shop, threatening arrest if they don’t comply.

Tayssir Ibrahim, however, looked at the untenable situation unfolding on his city’s streets with optimism. To him, the kiosk sector was far more than the security risk and source of traffic Egypt’s bureaucracy often reduced it to. The businesses could be modernized and remain in the hands of Egyptian families, Ibrahim thought. The model just needed a face-lift.