How Licensing Fueled A $30 Million Manufacturing Business In Egypt

Startups around the world face a common challenge: How to raise capital to grow a business without giving up control. The typical answers—securing venture funding, bootstrapping, or taking out loans—aren’t always viable, especially in emerging markets. But there’s another underutilized strategy that entrepreneurs should consider, which is licensing.

Licensing allows startups to generate capital, leverage industry expertise, and gain market intelligence—all while keeping ownership of their business. Mohamed Ali, an Egyptian entrepreneur, exemplifies this approach. By leveraging the power of licensing, he transformed a $50 provisional patent application into a $30 million manufacturing company in just five years.

In 2016, Mohamed Ali’s life changed when his young daughter was nearly electrocuted while playing with an electrical plug. When he and his wife searched for a safety product to prevent similar incidents, they discovered that no such solution existed.

Realizing an opportunity, he built a prototype to address the issue. Initially, it was just for home use, but when relatives and friends expressed interest, his wife encouraged him to commercialize the idea. Unsure where to begin, they turned to the internet for guidance.

Their search led them to my book One Simple Idea, which introduced them to the concept of product licensing. Ali had assumed that success meant building a factory to produce his invention himself, but the book opened his eyes to a different approach—one that didn’t require significant upfront capital.