About
I bought my company back because the story wasn't finished.
Engineer-turned-CEO building the Arab world's answer to enterprise CX infrastructure. From Upper Egypt to Cambridge to building a globally competitive AI platform from Cairo.
The second act
Most founder stories have one arc. Mine has three.
Act I: The Build (2016 – 2022)
I spent a decade in semiconductor engineering — Silicon Vision (acquired by Synopsys), then ARM Holdings in Cambridge — before realising that the infrastructure mindset I'd learned building chip IP could be applied to customer experience.
In 2016, I founded Tactful in Cairo. We built a CX infrastructure platform from scratch: 60+ engineers, $5M+ in R&D, enterprise customers across MENA including Elaraby Group, valU, Fairmont, and Address Hotels. We didn't build a chatbot. We built the five-layer stack beneath every customer interaction.
Act II: The Acquisition Chapter (2022 – 2024)
Dstny, a European business communications group, acquired Tactful. The partnership brought European distribution, enterprise credibility, and a perspective I could not have gained from the inside. I gained clarity on what Tactful's next chapter needed: full founder autonomy to pursue the agentic CX vision.
Act III: The Return (2024 – present)
In 2024, I reacquired full ownership. In February 2026, we raised $1M Pre-Series A. The platform is seeing 100x growth. We are building with the clarity that only comes from having done it once before.
“I bought it back because the best version of it hadn't been built yet.”
Timeline
Grew up in Upper Egypt. Studied engineering at Minia University. First company — Luxor Instruments — at age 20.
ComSpots — 5 years building cryptography and security solutions for banking, public safety, and military sectors.
Silicon Vision, Cairo — semiconductor IP design. Co-Founder & Design Manager. Acquired by Synopsys in 2015.
ARM Holdings, Cambridge — 6+ years managing infrastructure compute, client compute, automotive, and IoT product lines.
Founded Tactful AI in Cairo with Mohamed Hassan — while still at ARM. Ran both for 5 years.
Acquired by Dstny (Belgium). Partnership brought European distribution and enterprise perspective.
Bought it back. Full ownership. Mohamed Nagaty (Halan, Careem) joined as investor and strategic advisor.
Featured in the KPMG UK CX Excellence Report (University of Cambridge). EEA Awards Top 3 for AI Excellence & Deeptech.
Raised $1M Pre-Series A co-led by Foras AI and M Empire. 60+ engineers. 100x platform growth.
What I believe
Infrastructure over tools
The CX industry has a tool problem, not a technology problem. Everyone has AI. Almost nobody has infrastructure.
Depth, then scale
We spent eight years and $5M building infrastructure that most companies try to buy off the shelf. That’s the moat.
AI augments, never replaces
AI should handle the volume. Humans should handle the judgment. The platform’s job is to know which is which.
Build from where others don’t look
Building from Cairo is not a constraint. The talent here is extraordinary. World-class technology, built where others didn’t think to look.
Let's connect
Whether you're building in CX, investing in MENA, or just want to trade notes on the founder journey.
I'm the founder and CEO of Tactful AI— if you're curious about what we're building, that's where to look.