Inside SWVL’s Transformation with CEO Mostafa Kandil
The rise, reset and return to profitability with Co-founder & CEO Mostafa Kandil. Packed with lessons in resilience and reinvention.
I caught up with Mostafa Kandil, co-founder and CEO of SWVL. We had an honest, founder-founder conversation about what it’s really like to build SWVL. Raising at the peak, going public, navigating a macro dowturn, and then rebuilding.
This write-up reflects that conversation. It hasn’t been independently fact-checked and isn’t meant as investment advice. It’s shared as a reflection on what it takes to stay in the game when the story stops being glamorous.
Peak Optimism, Brutal Timing
SWVL was three years old.
Operating across emerging markets. Solving a clear problem: moving people in chaotic, under-served cities.
Investors were lining up. A $100 million raise was in motion. The company was outperforming.
“We did everything, launched markets, overdelivered on plans, acquired companies.”
Then COVID hit.
Group transport was one of the few sectors completely shut down.
City governments told them to stop operating. Immediately.
They didn’t panic. No layoffs. No salary cuts. The team stayed together.
The assumption was: ride it out, and momentum returns. And for a moment, it did.
By July 2021, they signed a SPAC deal. At the time, redemption rates were at 5%. They planned for 50% as a worst-case.
By the time the deal closed in March 2022, the environment had flipped:
Interest rates spiked, fast
Inflation fears dominated
The Russia–Ukraine war broke out
Emerging market currencies collapsed
40% of their business was in Egypt. The pound crashed. Same in Turkey, Argentina, Pakistan, Kenya.
Redemptions came in at 85%.
The funding dried up.
And the SPAC had to go through anyway, just to cover the sunk costs.
“We didn’t even go public to fund the business anymore. We had to do it to pay the lawyers and bankers.”
That’s when the narrative flipped.
“You go from being celebrated to being insulted on every platform. People who used to be proud of you suddenly say, ‘I always knew this would happen.’”
It wasn’t just the stock.
It was how quickly people changed their tone.
The company was still shipping. Still operating. But the noise had turned.
And they had to keep building through it.
Adapting Fast
They cut non-core markets.
Pulled out of cities that couldn’t scale.
Moved from B2C to B2B, because that part of the business worked.
“85% of our revenue today is B2B. It was already 50% before the crisis. We just doubled down.”
The team got smaller.
Mostafa approved every payment himself, line by line.
“I had the OTPs for every bank account. No dollar moved unless it made sense.”
They paused quarterly reporting, not out of avoidance, but because no one was left to produce it.
Still, they stabilized the business.
Margins improved.
Burn dropped.
Revenue bottomed out at $12 million, then reached $30 million profitably.
Mostafa described how his mindset flipped:
From “hire now, justify later” to “don’t hire unless the last one paid off”
From “blitzscale” to “earn the right to grow”
From “growth at all costs” to “profitable growth, or no growth”
They started expanding again. But this time, slower, market by market.
No front-loading. Every hire had to earn itself.
SWVL Today
Where are they now?
Profitable
Self-funded
Rebuilding from $30 million in revenue toward $100 million plans
Forecasting $20 million in net profit at scale
85% of revenue is now recurring B2B and B2G contracts
Margin and retention improving
Expanding in Egypt, Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, and UK
Qatar, Latin America, and the US are next
The business is more focused. The ship tighter.
And the ambition is the same.
Lessons Learned: The Hard Way
Mostafa didn’t share generic advice. He laid out tactical, earned insights:
Don’t spend money you don’t have
Focus on high-margin, high-purchasing-power markets
Avoid currency exposure unless you're hedged
Spend in local currency. Earn in dollars.
Track revenue per employee
Centralize spending decisions
Don’t waste time scaling low-value geographies
“Venture isn’t designed for 20% returns. It’s built for outsized outcomes. But that only works if the macro doesn’t eat you alive.”
He’s now betting more heavily on the Gulf.
“The GCC gave us power: strong currencies, strong demand, and room to grow with less noise. It’s why we’re betting more on this region.”
It's not just more stable, it’s higher margin, more predictable, and less harmed by volatility.
What remains misunderstood about SWVL?
Public perception often lags internal reality.
Especially when your stock chart looks like a cliff dive.
So I asked him: what’s the market misunderstanding?
“Today’s price reflects past trauma, not current fundamentals.
What he meant was clear:
They’re profitable
They’re growing
Their closest peer is valued 100x higher
The stock soared after the last earnings release
And when I asked how he handles the disconnect, he said:
“We stopped checking the stock. Everyone still here has seen the darkest days. We’re here to conquer the world, not watch a ticker.”
The Team, and Who Stuck Around
Some people bailed. That’s expected.
But more importantly, some stepped up.
The team that remained wasn’t just loyal.
They stuck around when it stopped being cool to be part of the story.
“Whoever’s still here has seen what it took. They’re not here for the headlines. They’re here to build.”
Final Note
So why am I writing about this?
I’m not an investor in SWVL and have no ties to the company, which, fortunately, gives me the freedom to share this story openly and easily. This isn’t an endorsement or a prediction of how the company will perform. Like any investment, there’s risk.
What compelled me to write this is Mostafa’s persistence, and the fact that we’re talking about one of the very few tech startups from the region listed on Nasdaq. I think there are only two: SWVL and Anghami.
Whenever someone starts a business, we’re quick to congratulate them. But the behavior I actually admire is when a founder stays. When they commit. When they rebuild what broke. When they figure it out and keep going.
That’s what Mostafa & his colleagues are doing.