Page 36 - Entrepreneur-November 2018

MOST DARING
ENTREPRENEURS

Nayrouz
Talaat
Founder/ Direxiona
Bold move/ Building Morgan DeBaun
an all-female driving
school—in Egypt Cofounder and CEO/ Blavity
Bold move/ Pushing hard
n 2001, Nayrouz Talaat fig- into new media
ured it was time she learned
t a time when news media bud-
to drive. The Cairo-based
A gets are shrinking and established
journalist was, after all, 20 at
publications are getting rescued by
the time. But as she explored
tech billionaires, Morgan DeBaun’s
driving schools, she found
Blavity, a platform focused on black
only male instructors—
millennials, is thriving. This summer,
something that didn’t make
she raised $6.5 million from investors
her feel particularly safe or
like Google Ventures and Comcast
I comfortable.
Ventures to expand Blavity’s empire,
She asked her uncle to teach
which now includes 21Ninety, a lifestyle
her to drive instead, and real-
site for women of color; Shadow & Act,
ized that her experience wasn’t
a Hollywood Reporter–esque trade;
unique. Many Egyptian women
and Travel Noire, an Instagram brand
rely on relatives to teach them
that Blavity acquired and turned into
to drive because the alternative
a bustling travel-and-leisure resource.
is to be alone with an unfamiliar
“We set out to rethink what it means to
male instructor and at risk of
be a distribution platform for black cre-
sexual harassment. It got her
ativity,” says DeBaun. “We’re empow-
thinking: Why should Egyptian
ering a generation of storytellers.”
women rely on men at all?
Fifteen years later, she
decided to finally do something
about it. In 2016 she opened her
own driving school, Direxiona,
a startup employing female
driving instructors teaching
female students exclusively.
Women can sign up online or
visit the company’s Facebook
page and be matched with a
local instructor. Students and
teachers are paired up based
on age and social class to keep Oscar Munoz
both parties comfortable. “We CEO/ United Airlines P H O T O G R A P H B Y A H M E D G A M I L ( TA L A AT ) ; P H O T O G R A P H B Y G E T T Y I M A G E S /J U S T I N S U L L I VA N ( M U N O Z ) ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F B L AV I T Y ( D E B A U N )
seek to empower women on the Bold move/ Staying, when
road,” Talaat says. “Women in everyone said to go
Egypt prefer to learn with other who sign up for lessons while asking for lessons, too. They’re
women for security reasons, but visiting the country on vacation. usually the fathers or fiancés nited Airlines last year suf-
it’s tough to find professional Talaat now employs 50 female of past clients, but Talaat won’t U fered a seemingly unending
female drivers, who quickly and instructors and serves at least budge from her vision. Her onslaught of public relations
unfairly get stereotyped as bad 100 students each month; she company is for women only, she catastrophes. There was, of course,
drivers.” expects to triple the size of the says, and she’s now focused the violent removal of a passenger
Talaat started recruiting company by the end of 2019. on raising capital to expand to from an overbooked flight. Then
female instructors on Facebook In the past year, Direxiona has more cities, increase services, came news that 75 percent of all
and Instagram, and offered train- competed in startup competi- and build an automated book- animal deaths on planes that year
ing for women with more than tions and summits in Egypt and ing system that utilizes artificial were on United flights. Many called
five years of driving experience parts of Europe, picking up men- intelligence to produce better on CEO Oscar Munoz to resign, but
and an interest in becoming an tors for Talaat and her team. driver-student matches. he stayed put—and genuinely got
instructor. In addition to on-the- As the company grows and “At Direxiona, we know very to work fixing problems. First up:
road lessons, Talaat and her gains more recognition, local well that it is hard to maintain Improve customer service with a new
team offer training sessions and conservative men have been the success of a women-only employee training regimen, as well
classes on car maintenance and condemning it or questioning startup in a conservative, as a $10,000 incentive for passen-
road safety. its legitimacy. In response, male-dominated society like gers to voluntarily forfeit seats on
It didn’t take long for Direx- Talaat says, all she can do is Egypt,” Talaat says. “But we overbooked flights. Munoz’s efforts
iona to catch on. It currently keep working and prove them are adamant about completing are keeping United flying high: As
operates in 12 neighborhoods wrong. More and more women our mission to empower women of Q2 this year, United had made
across Cairo and has even are signing up for lessons—and here—both in the region and on enough of a comeback to repur-
started attracting Saudi women, to her surprise, some men are the road.” chase $407 million worth of its stock.
62 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / November 2018