Telling the story of an entrepreneur will not be the identical as telling a narrative on a grand film display screen, the place there’s a clear starting, center, and finish. As a rule, the entrepreneur’s story unfolds in a extra intimate approach — by a one-on-one dialog, the place one particular person listens intently, absorbed by the stunning variety of twists and turns that may occur, not simply over the course of a yr, however even in a single day.
Very like two buddies gathering over a cup of espresso to alternate tales and replicate on their experiences, an entrepreneur’s journey is deeply private. It isn’t merely a narrative to be listened to, however one meant to resonate with and encourage others, leaving an enduring influence on their hearts.
Listening to the story of Yaya Shakes, based by Egyptian entrepreneur Yahia Zaky, appears like having a heart-to-heart with a pal. It’s a reminder that entrepreneurial success doesn’t all the time must be about chasing large concepts. Generally, it’s born from a easy ardour—for meals, bringing pleasure to others, and supporting your roots and homeland.
In a fast-paced digital world the place traits are fleeting, there may be extra to study from his story than simply entrepreneurship. His journey teaches concerning the ever-evolving market. He has realized that connecting with clients is transcendsselling a product; additionally it is about creating moments of pleasure and significant experiences. It’s about making folks really feel good.
With a single milkshake, Zaky aimed to do exactly that. Easy, but highly effective.
A Londoner with Egyptian Roots
From the very starting, Zaky’s story mirrored the expertise of many immigrants — continually studying, unlearning, and grappling together with his sense of id whereas being removed from residence.
All of it begins at residence.
Born in Saudi Arabia and raised in London, Zaky’s journey took form removed from Egypt. Nonetheless, his Egyptian roots have been ever-present within the small, on a regular basis moments—the household gatherings, the untranslatable uniqueness of Arabic expressions like “inshallah” and “yallah,” and the cherished summer time journeys to Egypt that held a magic unmatched wherever else.
“My complete household lived in Egypt, so each summer time, we’d return there for holidays,” Zaky remembers. “We’d communicate Arabic at residence, watch Egyptian TV exhibits, and immerse ourselves in Egyptian tradition — even in London. It was one thing that all the time grounded me and stored me related.”
Leaving was all the time the toughest half. As a baby, the airport was the place he would really feel a robust pull to remain in Egypt, regardless that he couldn’t absolutely clarify why.
“I cherished it a lot, I didn’t need to go away,” he says. “I’d cry on the airport when it was time to return.”
It’s a feeling that resonates with many immigrants. Life unfolds in a single place, with its personal sights and sounds, however the coronary heart is related to a different. For Zaky, like for thus many others, residence isn’t just one spot on the map: it’s two locations, even when they’re separated by miles.
Usually, belonging to a spot includes a guidelines: the setting, the job, the household, and so forth. However for Zaky, his connection to Egypt was was an emotional pull, a sense that made him promise himself he wouldd return someday, even with no concrete plan.
From Humble Beginnings to Success
If there may be one factor that’s simple concerning the entrepreneurial journey, it’s that it’s constructed on a basis of trial and error, with fixed adaptation to the market and a drive to identify the following alternative for development.
In different phrases, for a lot of entrepreneurs, the pursuit of alternative is second nature — they don’t await alternatives to knock; they exit and discover them.
Zaky’s knack for enterprise kicked in early, one may additionally say that it was sooner than most of us. At simply 11, he was already determining methods to make cash and turn out to be extra self-sufficient — typically by bending the principles.
“I instructed folks I used to be 13 so I may get a newspaper supply job,” he shares, laughing on the reminiscence.
Whether or not it was dodging canine whereas delivering papers or promoting sweets to classmates, Zaky’s drive to hustle was continuous.
By the point he was 13, he had shifted his focus on-line. Whereas enjoying Habbo Lodge, a digital world on-line recreation, Zaky discovered he had a expertise for buying and selling digital items. Earlier than lengthy, he was writing and promoting an e-book on how to reach the sport, pulling in GBP100 (EGP 6,187.81) to GBP150 (EGP 9,397.04) per week — a formidable sum of money for less than an adolescent whose buddies have been in all probability nonetheless getting pocket change. This early style of entrepreneurship fueled a ardour for enterprise that may solely develop stronger over time.
“What was it that drove me? Actually, I feel it was the fun of the sport,” Zaky displays. “Possibly it was my dad and mom splitting up, or possibly I simply cherished the buy-and-sell course of. Being the oldest boy in the home made me really feel like I needed to step up.”
His entrepreneurial path was, for sure, filled with twists and turns. It was by no means a clean journey. He confronted numerous challenges alongside the best way, however these robust occasions paved the trail to his greatest success but: Yaya Milkshakes. It’s arduous to not surprise, although: how did a easy love for milkshakes flip right into a enterprise?
On the coronary heart of each profitable enterprise is the capability to tune into the wants and needs of the folks, to really feel the heartbeat of the occasions —and Zaky embodied this. He understood that probably the most useful advertising and marketing instrument is the genuine expertise a buyer has with a model. Whereas any firm can create a stunning advertising and marketing marketing campaign, it’s the real influence of a services or products that really resonates with folks and will get them speaking.
For years, Zaky noticed varied eating places, dissecting each element from menu choices to customer support. But, none of those experiences ignited his ardour fairly like the thought of making one thing that introduced pleasure to folks’s lives. His objective, in the end, was to create experiences that would go away folks smiling.
Whereas at college, he developed a behavior of scanning dessert menus — notably the milkshake part.
“I all the time thought, why are there solely a handful of flavors? What if we may shake issues up a bit?” he tells Egyptian Streets.
That one curious query, born from a eager eye for element and a need to enhance the shopper expertise, planted the seed for what would finally develop into Yaya Milkshakes.
When a primary store location in London turned obtainable, Zaky noticed a golden likelihood and didn’t hesitate — he dove straight in. With a mixture of his financial savings and a small mortgage from his mom, he was absolutely dedicated.
“I keep in mind telling my mother, ‘Even when this doesn’t work, I’ll pay you again. I’ll get a job if I’ve to,” he explains.
Like many Egyptian dad and mom, the thought of pursuing entrepreneurship felt too dangerous, as training is usually seen because the safer path. But, over time, Zaky managed to stability each, finally opening his personal enterprise.
If one have been to match what Yaya Shakes was in 2011 to what it has turn out to be over ten years later, it could really feel like two fully totally different worlds.
Yaya Shakes was born in the summertime of 2011. Zaky, balancing his research in worldwide politics at King’s Faculty London with the calls for of working a fledgling enterprise, was in fixed overdrive. He would snatch sleep within the stockroom, surrounded by sweets and components, pulling all-nighters on assignments, solely to serve milkshakes to clients the following day.
“It was exhausting, however I used to be residing my dream. I knew this was it,” he explains.
Understanding, deep in our intestine, that one thing is “the one” will not be the identical as attaining success — a lesson Zaky realized early on. For the primary few years, Zaky confesses, he had no clear course.
“All my buddies have been touchdown jobs, advancing of their careers, whereas I used to be barely making sufficient to maintain the store working,” he provides.
What is actually admirable about Zaky’s journey is that he by no means let failure or sluggish gross sales shake his resolve. As a substitute, he patiently waited, using out the lows till the correct second arrived — when the cultural tide lastly shifted in favor of his milkshakes. The demand was there, and he was able to seize it.
The actual turning level got here throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Whereas the world was shutting down and companies have been struggling, Zaky noticed a chance to double down on his mission: spreading happiness.
“Everybody was scared, locked of their properties, however I instructed my workforce, ‘Now we have a job to do. We’re right here to unfold happiness, and we’ll preserve doing that,’” he explains.
And it labored. Phrase of mouth unfold like wildfire. Individuals drove for hours simply to get a style of Zaky’s milkshakes, and shortly, the road exterior his store was lined with automobiles from all around the nation.
“We didn’t do any promoting. Individuals simply cherished what we have been doing, they usually instructed others,” he tells Egyptian Streets.
With this expertise behind him, Zaky didn’t cease there. He knew deep down that his childhood dream was nonetheless alive—to return to his homeland, and Yaya Milkshakes felt like the proper purpose to make it occur. It was his likelihood to pursue the “Egyptian Dream” and recreate the success he had already inbuilt London.
The Egyptian Dream
There is no such thing as a scarcity of articles concerning the American Dream, and the way this narrative continues to draw folks from all around the world to the USA. However for Zaky, his imaginative and prescient was totally different—he was drawn to his personal model of the Egyptian Dream, one which stands aside from the standard tales of individuals in search of new lives overseas. Within the Egyptian market, Zaky noticed a niche for startups, and he seized the chance to fill it.
Getting into the Egyptian market, nevertheless, requires two key understandings: greedy the cultural panorama and understanding the Egyptian shopper. The Egyptian shopper is exclusive, inserting nice significance on feeling a private and experiential reference to a enterprise — one thing Zaky got here to comprehend over time.
In 2022, Zaky made the choice to return to Egypt, bringing Yaya Milkshakes together with him. For him, this transfer was about extra than simply rising his enterprise — it was an opportunity to satisfy a long-held dream of giving again to his personal nation.
“I felt the identical pull I had again in 2011, throughout the Arab Spring,” he says. “I needed to be a part of one thing greater, to create one thing significant in Egypt.”
For Zaky, the logic was clear. With Egypt’s rising youth inhabitants and heat local weather, his enterprise idea — a milkshake store that had thrived within the wet streets of London — appeared completely suited to the Egyptian market.
“If I may promote milkshakes in chilly, dreary London, why not in Egypt?” he displays. “The inhabitants is younger, the climate is ideal, and there’s an actual starvation for brand new concepts.”
Nevertheless, past the chance, there was a message that he additionally felt strongly about delivering to younger Egyptians, lots of whom consider they have to go away the nation to seek out success.
“I needed to point out folks that Egypt is filled with potential. You don’t want to go away. Now we have every little thing right here to develop, and we, as Egyptians, are able to a lot,” Zaky says. “If we took pleasure in our tradition, our historical past, and our heritage, we may construct one thing unimaginable proper right here.”
In Egypt, there’s a lot extra to study — cultural nuances, enterprise practices, and navigating a system that doesn’t all the time operate in probably the most predictable approach. Zaky rapidly realized that Egyptian enterprise required a distinct strategy.
“You possibly can’t simply await issues to occur right here,” he explains, likening the expertise to driving in Egypt.
“In London, driving is structured, everybody follows the principles. However right here, it’s chaotic, and when you wait your flip, you’ll by no means transfer ahead. You need to be assertive, and that’s precisely how enterprise works,” he provides.
One of many key methods that helped him to navigate was staying true to his product. When he first opened the milkshake store, many doubted whether or not milkshakes alone may succeed.
“Individuals would ask, ‘Milkshakes? That gained’t work right here.’ However I caught to my imaginative and prescient as a result of I believed in it,” he says. “We made our personal ice cream, the milkshakes have been thick, and clients cherished that they might see all the course of.”
He additionally infused the enterprise with an interactive and inventive component, a high quality extremely valued by Egyptian customers who nonetheless prioritize in-person buying experiences.
“We supplied clients the possibility to customise their milkshakes with over 100 totally different sweets and sweets. It reworked the product into an expertise,” he explains. “Individuals felt concerned within the course of, which stored them coming again for extra.”
It isn’t nearly promoting a product—it’s about creating an expertise. That’s the philosophy behind this rising enterprise, and Zaky needed to just remember to can really feel it the second you stroll in.
“We’re not simply right here to promote one thing; we’re making an attempt to construct a neighborhood,” he says.
The shop itself is designed with that in thoughts, providing a relaxed, open setting the place folks can come collectively.
“We’ve acquired very nice seating, and it’s unfold over three flooring. On the highest flooring, it’s tremendous chill — you’ll be able to simply sit and examine, and also you don’t even have to purchase something. We need to be an area the place creativity is fostered, the place we are able to empower younger folks.”
Amongst Zaky’s many creations, one milkshake stands out as his present favourite: the “We’ve Acquired Chemistry.”
It’s a balanced mix of creamy vanilla with only a trace of Lotus biscuit. “You get the smoothness of the vanilla milkshake, however then the feel of the biscuit comes by,” Zaky explains. “It’s topped with caramel sauce and Lotus crumbs, giving it that excellent mixture of creaminess and crunch.”
Powered by coronary heart
Zaky’s success is fueled by extra than simply brains — additionally it is powered by coronary heart. With each hiring determination, he’s dedicated to creating an actual distinction within the lives of younger folks, opening doorways for them to achieve useful expertise and construct their careers.
All of his staff are younger, and for many, it’s their first job.
“I really acquired a whole lot of criticism for hiring them,” he admits. “Individuals mentioned I ought to have employed those that have been extra skilled or spoke English higher. However I inform them that I rent individuals who need to change their lives, people who find themselves keen to study. Sure, we make errors typically, however we ought to be affected person. It’s about giving folks an opportunity to develop.”
Over time, Zaky has realized that his success will not be solely outlined by particular person accomplishments. Fairly, it’s concerning the influence he’s made on folks, each professionally and personally.
“So many youngsters are available in and inform me they need to begin their very own companies as a result of they give the impression of being as much as what we’re doing,” he shares.
“After showing on Shark Tank, I had folks telling me that I spoke extra Arabic than any of the opposite entrepreneurs on the present and the way that impacted them — and that meant rather a lot.”
Zaky is about to develop his Egyptian Dream by opening new Yaya Milkshakes shops in Sheikh Zayed and New Cairo, persevering with to function a hub of innovation and creativity for younger folks.
On the finish of listening to his story, there’s a second if you pause and replicate on this query: what sort of influence can I actually have on the folks round me? And the way can I give again to the neighborhood? The reply doesn’t all the time have to be grand or world-changing—typically, it is so simple as a milkshake.
