Career Biography

With over 15 years of legal practice across multiple jurisdictions, I have built a career at the intersection of international business law, innovation, and operational excellence. I am an Egyptian Attorney at Law with dual LLBs from Cairo University and Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, a Master’s in Civil and Commercial Obligations from Paris V, and an LLM in International and Comparative Business Law from Indiana University – Purdue.

My background has afforded me a unique, comparative legal perspective, fluent in Arabic, French, and American legal systems — and deeply attuned to the cross-border dynamics shaping today’s global economy.

Since joining the Egyptian Bar Association in 2010, I have held senior legal leadership roles in multinational organisations, most recently serving as General Counsel where I lead legal strategy and manage complex operational matters across corporate, commercial, capital markets, and regulatory domains.

My core areas of specialization include Legal Technology, Fintech, M&A, joint ventures, franchising, agency and distribution, TMT, labor law, and cross-border transactions.

One of my proudest career milestones has been leading and executing multi-jurisdictional M&A transactions and commercial structuring for companies entering new markets, particularly within telecoms, technology, and regulated industries. I have also led the implementation of legal operating models that align closely with business outcomes — ensuring legal remains a trusted partner in growth, not a reactive function.

Beyond my corporate work, I have contributed to the legal community through my role on the Legal Committee of the French Chamber of Commerce in Egypt since 2016, and as a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel. I have authored academic work on franchise law and the CISG, reflecting my passion for comparative legal systems and the harmonisation of international commercial law.

My current focus lies at the intersection of law, technology, and innovation. I am particularly passionate about legal technology, telecoms, AI, and data protection — and regularly advise startups and scale-ups on building legally resilient, innovation-friendly business models. Whether navigating GDPR and cross-border data transfers or advising on AI governance frameworks Fintech, I bring a strategic lens to legal risk in tech-driven environments.

Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, I bring not only legal expertise but also cultural fluency to every negotiation, contract, or regulatory engagement.

I believe that excellence is not optional, it is the standard, and I remain committed to leading with clarity, pragmatism, and purpose in an increasingly complex legal landscape.

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

This past year has been a defining one for Foodics and the Legal Department. We supported the full acquisition of Solo Venture, a UK-based provider of self-ordering kiosks and white-label digital ordering technology, which has now been successfully integrated into the Foodics ecosystem. The deal, announced during LEAP 2025 in Riyadh, significantly enhances our offerings to F&B clients across the region.

We also completed the corporate restructuring of our SAMA-licensed entity, finalising a complex legal split between our Restaurant Management System and Payment Services divisions. This was a critical step in our preparations to apply for both the Major PI License and the EMI License with SAMA.

At the same time, we led the legal transformation of Foodics from a single-shareholder company into a Joint Stock Company, a crucial requirement ahead of our planned IPO on Tadawul by the end of 2025. We are preparing to offer at least 30% of our shares and are currently in the pre-IPO phase, raising additional capital to support strategic M&A activity.

What innovations have you made to the way your legal team works in the past year? 

Over the past year, we have prioritised legal innovation to support Foodics’ fast-paced expansion and increasing regulatory complexity.

A key initiative was the integration of SpotDraft, an AI-powered contract management and archiving solution. This platform now powers end to end contract lifecycle management within the organisation, automating legal requests, streamlining approval flows, and ensuring centralised archiving and auditability. It has significantly improved efficiency, visibility, and compliance across teams.

In parallel, we are planning to launch internal training efforts to upskill our legal team on AI applications in contract analytics, risk detection, and document automation. Team members have been attending events and taking specialised courses focused on AI in legal operations to ensure we stay ahead of the curve and can use these tools to deliver faster, smarter legal support.

We are also aiming to develop an internal AI legal assistant, built in compliance with our data governance standards, to handle routine legal queries and free up our team to focus on strategic advisory work. All of this is part of a broader shift in how we see legal at Foodics: not just as a support function, but as a proactive enabler of growth, efficiency and innovation.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?  

Effective collaboration hinges on being commercially aware and deeply familiar with the business and products of Foodics, while maintaining legal integrity. At Foodics, we embed legal team members early in strategic discussions with business leads – from M&A to product launches – to ensure alignment from day one.

Being solution oriented, responsive, and well-versed in the company’s goals and regulatory obligations helps build trust and accelerate decision making. We see our legal team not as gatekeepers, but as strategic enablers who help business leaders anticipate and navigate legal challenges.

This approach has been critical in recent cross-functional efforts, such as supporting the company’s pre-IPO readiness and advising on the integration of our newly acquired and invested startups: Solo, Add, Arzaq Plus, and Norma.

Which political, economic or regulatory changes have impacted your work the most in the past year?

The development of data protection laws and regulations, as well as AI solutions, is now impacting most of our business transactions and operations, along with SAMA and Pay regulations.

The evolving regulatory landscape in Saudi Arabia and across MENA has had a profound impact on our legal strategy. The introduction and enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) by SDAIA required us to realign data practices across the organisation. We are currently finalising our registration as a Data Controller and have localised our Data Protection Manual, including the DPA and DCA, not only in Saudi Arabia but also in other key jurisdictions such as the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, and Jordan.

At the same time, regulatory requirements related to payment services licensing under SAMA, particularly in the context of our split into separate RMS and Pay entities, have necessitated a detailed and proactive compliance roadmap. This is especially important as we prepare to apply for Major PI and EMI licenses, along with other related SAMA licensed partnership services, to help provide better solutions for restaurants and their owners.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives you would like to highlight?

Yes, the legal team has played a vital cross-functional role beyond traditional legal work. We’ve been key contributors to Foodics’ IPO preparation journey, working closely with finance, corporate development, and investor relations teams on structuring, due diligence, and governance matters.

In parallel, we’ve supported the company’s regional expansion and investment strategy, helping evaluate and structure deals with high-impact startups like Norma, Add, and Arzaq Plus. These deals are not just legal milestones – they contribute to broader company initiatives focused on AI adoption, operational efficiency, and financial empowerment for Food and Beverage businesses.

We’ve also been involved in initiatives for good causes. In collaboration with MISC, we’ve supported charitable efforts, and in Egypt, Foodics announced its official technology partnership with Million Pound Menu to support entrepreneurs in the F&B sector. This partnership helps entrepreneurs expand and grow by providing the latest technology solutions capable of quickly addressing any operational challenges. The program enables ambitious restaurant owners to present their ideas to a group of investors to obtain the necessary financing.

The legal team was heavily involved in making these solutions possible.

What do you think are the key things to remember to motivate and manage the other members of your legal team?

Motivating a legal team, especially in a fast-scaling tech company like Foodics, starts with creating a culture of trust, ownership, and growth. I believe in giving team members real responsibility, not just task execution, so they feel invested in outcomes and can see the impact of their work on the business. I also prioritize clear communication, visibility into company goals, and continuous development.

We encourage our team to attend legal events, take online courses, and be recognized in international legal events and seminars. This exposure supports their professional growth and reinforces their role as valuable contributors within the organisation and the wider legal community.

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about, and why?

I am deeply passionate about technology as a force for inclusive progress, particularly its potential to drive digital and financial inclusion across the MENA region. At Foodics, we have made it our mission to empower small and medium-sized restaurant owners – often underserved – with access to enterprise-grade tools like smart POS, integrated payments, data analytics, and most recently, Buy Now Pay Later solutions to help manage operational costs.

Beyond the F&B space, I am especially passionate about the transformative role of AI across all sectors. I see AI not just as a technological evolution, but as a societal shift that will redefine how we work, govern, and interact. As a legal leader, I feel a strong responsibility to help shape the frameworks that ensure AI is deployed ethically, with clear safeguards for data privacy, accountability, and fairness.

Whether through regulatory alignment, internal policy development, or building compliant AI tools within our own ecosystem, I believe legal teams play a critical role in ensuring that innovation is inclusive and responsible – and that we help build a digital future that benefits everyone.

Are the effects of AI on the legal world overplayed, or underplayed?

I believe the effects of AI on the legal world are still underplayed, especially in operational legal functions. While the conversation often focuses on AI replacing lawyers, the real value today lies in enhancing productivity, automating routine tasks, and enabling faster, data-driven legal decisions and prompt mastery.

At Foodics, we have already seen tangible benefits from integrating AI tools like SpotDraft for contract automation, and we are now exploring in-house AI assistants to manage everyday legal queries.

The key is adopting these technologies responsibly, with proper governance, strong data controls, and human oversight, so they support rather than replace legal judgment. AI is just getting started. We are still learning… alongside the machine learning.