Jun 22, 2026 · 59 min · 14 segments
After Egypt's 2011 revolution, when foreign investors fled and the country was in chaos, a fund made a $300 million bet on Egyptian talent. This is the story of how that bet, against all odds…
James HarmonGuest
Cornelius QueenGuest
Zaina SoufanHost
First of all, people in the United States were not aware of the turbulence in Egypt, as clearly as, of course, there was or that I saw it.
And even when Hillary first called me, she said famously, Jim, you can do this.
That was what we call the humor of the day, The joke of the day, of course, it ended up being 100% of my time.
Even to this day, when I see Hillary, I remind her about her famous line, you can do this.
Now, she was trying to convince me to accept, but still, she said, you can do it on 25% of your time.
What was the idea behind the fund? What did Hillary Clinton say? Why was Washington interested in even starting that fund?
Washington felt that An enterprise fund helps to create jobs and helps to build the private sector in the country for that.
As you know, it turned out that we were very successful in Egypt in the last 12, 14 years.
Why were we so successful? Why can't be done in many other countries? What is it that we did differently to make it so successful?
In fact, our car on our first trip, I had made a decision which the government and I didn't agree with, but I had the right to do it.
And that was to visit the Muslim Brotherhood to hear from them, even though we had no intention of doing any business with them.
First of all, people in the United States were not aware of the turbulence in Egypt, as clearly as, of course, there was or that I saw it.
And even when Hillary first called me, she said famously, Jim, you can do this.
That was what we call the humor of the day, The joke of the day, of course, it ended up being 100% of my time.
Even to this day, when I see Hillary, I remind her about her famous line, you can do this.
Now, she was trying to convince me to accept, but still, she said, you can do it on 25% of your time.
What was the idea behind the fund? What did Hillary Clinton say? Why was Washington interested in even starting that fund?
Washington felt that An enterprise fund helps to create jobs and helps to build the private sector in the country for that.
As you know, it turned out that we were very successful in Egypt in the last 12, 14 years.
Why were we so successful? Why can't be done in many other countries? What is it that we did differently to make it so successful?
In fact, our car on our first trip, I had made a decision which the government and I didn't agree with, but I had the right to do it.
And that was to visit the Muslim Brotherhood to hear from them, even though we had no intention of doing any business with them.
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