Afripreneur
Vetwork Inc, MENA’s leading startup for animal care is bringing petcare to your home
Vetwork Inc Founders, Abdelreheem Hussein and Fady Azzouny (Source: Vetwork)
Pets today are considered family members, best friends, confidants, and so much more. Taking care of them requires more than just love and dedication, but also the right knowledge to recognize when something is not right. Vetwork Inc, MENA’s leading startup for animal care industry one country at a time and its mission is to make pets healthier, pet owners happier. In this interview with Alaba Ayinuola of Business Africa Online, Fady Azzouny Founder and CEO of Vetwork Inc talked about his entrepreneurship journey, his vision for petcare with Vetwork and the future plan. Excerpts.
Alaba: Why did you start and what’s the passion behind it?
Fady: Petcare should be easy, as it stands its full of inefficiencies for both pet parents and vets. Instead of a crowded clinic with a waiting time of 30-45 minutes, vets come to you at home at the time you choose. Rather than try to muster up a massive amount of money to fund a clinic, vets can practice their services without any initial cost and make extra money to live a better life.
The vision of regulating the petcare industry involves a lot of innovation, our dream is to use the available technologies to make everyone’s lives easier and right now we’re on the right track.
Alaba: What is your background?
Fady: I graduated as a veterinarian, but I consider myself an entrepreneur. I saw some problems in the veterinary market while I was still studying and started a bunch of projects, with a few of them turning into medium sized companies. My initial problem was the absence of technology in my solutions, with Vetwork I think we can really achieve my vision of making petcare easier.
Alaba: What are the problems you are solving and what is your value proposition?
Fady: Its simple, we are solving the problem of finding a good vet by selecting our vets from a pool of more than 1000 annual applications. And the problem of waiting in the clinic through Home visits available 24/7. Also, we are addressing Vets problems of low wages and salaries by offering them easy access to extra income.
Vetwork is reliable, affordable and available petcare.
Alaba: Tell us more about the process, users, business model!
Fady: As we stand the process is the same across Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate (UAE). We onboarded more than 300 vets across these three countries. These vets help us cater to our customer’s needs. A pet parent can log into our website or app and request a service at the time of their choosing. A vet will be assigned and introduced to the client.
The vet will then arrive, conduct the visit and deliver a detailed orientation on the tips and tricks of petcare. Our medical records also allow us to follow-up with our pet parents to make sure that everything is going according to plan and their pet is getting better.
Alaba: What are your main challenge?
Fady: Since we promise to deliver all your pets needs to you, finding the right groomers, trainers, vets and boarding facilities is always a challenge due to our strict onboarding guidelines.
Alaba: What is your achievements and coming plan?
Fady: After launching in three countries our plan is to start expanding further into the MENA region and build our presence in the countries that need us the most. Our tech infrastructure allows us to launch in any country in a matter of days and we plan to take advantage of this to test markets and become your pets partner anywhere in the Middle East.
Alaba: Do you think the ecosystem support you?
Fady: Ideas and mentorship, we’re always happy to learn and listen to other people’s ideas on how we can make petcare an easier process. We try our best to promote pet adoption since a lot of shelters are full of pets that need a home. Access to people with a wider audience can surely help us deliver our message to the people that need us the most.
As part of Veuve Clicquot’s ongoing commitment to supporting and celebrating women in business, the Maison has created the Bold International Barometer in 2019 to shed light on and provide meaningful insights into the evolution of female entrepreneurship. Now in its 3rd year, the Barometer continues to lead the conversation around women and their presence in business, offering a deep dive into the data on female entrepreneurship in South Africa.
In 2023, over 49,000 women and men from 25 countries were surveyed. Encouragingly, South Africa’s data results speak to a robust female-led industry. The survey, which was self-administered online, asked respondents to give their views on several statements relating to the nuances of being a business owner and entrepreneur. Taking a global look first, the survey suggests that the rate of female entrepreneurship has slowed and is even diminishing in some countries. In some cases, this is due to both external—such as ongoing geopolitical crises—and internal factors, like striking a fair work-life balance.
This, however, is not the case in South Africa, where the data suggests a dynamic environment for women, fueled by a contagious desire among them to become entrepreneurs. Amanda Dambuza, Founder and CEO of Uyandiswa and the 2017 winner of the International Businesswoman Award by Veuve Clicquot says, “I am forever impressed by the spirit of South African female entrepreneurs. Despite the many challenges they face, they get up and back themselves to ‘bring home the bacon’. Next to Nigeria, we stand shoulders above the rest with high numbers of females identifying as entrepreneurs.”
In short, female entrepreneurship in South Africa is flourishing. South Africa stood out as one of the global leaders in female entrepreneurship where, currently, 61% of women self-identify as entrepreneurs (primarily aged between 20 to 29). According to the survey, they tend to be better educated and have higher incomes than their male counterparts. Yet they remain concentrated in lower-income sectors like beauty, food, retail, and fashion, while men dominate tech. However, in industries such as transportation, finance, and real estate, there is relatively equal representation, suggesting there could be potential for more women to succeed in these fields, should they want to diversify.
WHAT’S MOTIVATING WOMEN TO BECOME ENTREPRENEURS?
According to the data, 39% of female respondents said ‘that being your own boss’ was the biggest driver for becoming an entrepreneur. Despite this, most women and half of men agree that it is more difficult for women to become entrepreneurs. Further to this, most women concur that securing business funding is easier for men, a view that remains consistent with previous years.
“This finding resonates deeply with me,” says Morongwe Mokone, the 2024 Bold Woman Award by Veuve Clicquot winner and Co-Founder of Mo’s Crib.
“It highlights the persistent gender and structural barriers that women face.” She continues by commenting on the need for strong role models among respondents, with most women and men agreeing on their importance. This emphasizes the need for female visibility and representation,” Morongwe adds. 72% of aspiring South African female entrepreneurs can name a successful woman they admire, surpassing the global average.
Refilwe Sebothoma, 2024 Bold Future Award winner and Founder of Hakem Energies adds, “It remains our responsibility to keep forging a way for those who come after us. In this way, success doesn’t become a too far-fetched idea but a reality which can be attained by fellow women entrepreneurs.”
However, as glowing as some of these statistics may be, women still face challenges that, in many cases, their male counterparts don’t experience. In addition to difficulties accessing funding, women also must navigate balancing work and family, with 63% of women and 56% of men agreeing this is harder for female entrepreneurs. Further to that, since the conversation about working women can’t happen without mentioning their families, half of the female respondents believe that female entrepreneurship disrupts family life, compared to only 25% who feel the same about male entrepreneurship.
“Women must know without a shadow of a doubt that despite cultural and family pressures, they deserve to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship,” says Amanda.
Further to this, two-thirds of women say that managing entrepreneurship with family life is harder for women, and about half say that working full-time affects family life. This indicates that while entrepreneurship is thriving amongst women in South Africa, there is still much work to be done to support women getting into business, as well as helping them stay there. “It is encouraging to see the growth and resilience of women in this field despite economic challenges,” says Morongwe. “However, it is essential to focus on breaking down the barriers that limit women’s participation in higher-revenue sectors and ensure equal access to funding opportunities. By addressing these issues and promoting diverse role models, we can further empower women and drive sustainable economic growth.”
“Authenticity, resilience, and just being ourselves is very important. As women, we need to keep making a difference, no matter how insignificant we think it is because when that impact is replicated, women will change the world,” concludes Refilwe.
Balladjigui FOFANA, a young Franco-Malian entrepreneur based in France. Passionate about law for several years, he is a lawyer and founder of MYJOBHELP.FR, a platform specializing in international recruitment, international mobility and the completion of administrative formalities for the employment of foreign employees.
Balladjigui has always believed that talent has no borders, and that it should be within everyone’s reach, no matter where they are in the world. In terms of training, he holds a Master 2 in Corporate Law and another in Management and Human Resources Management. He has had several experiences including at the Mutualité Française, then at Couleurs de Tollens and TGS France.
Driven by an entrepreneurial soul and a desire to impact his community, he decided to launch his own company: “MyJobHelp” in October 2022. Convinced that he had found his way, he decided 2 years later (in July 2024) to focus 100% on his career as an entrepreneur.
MyJobHelp makes it possible to secure the recruitment of foreign workers to offer French and international companies access to competent profiles from all walks of life. Work permits, changes of status, visas, residence permits, recruitment, expatriation… MyJobHelp takes care of everything! From now on, don’t worry about paperwork. By trusting MyJobHelp, you are choosing to work in complete serenity and security.
Brown T is a family business launched by two women, sisters, Soraya and Melissa Saidi, and afro-feminists. Born and raised in France in an environment where black/mixed-race women were underrepresented. Having both had the same educational background, they progressed in the world of nursing in order to help and safeguard the health of their neighbors.
However, Soraya and Melissa have always known that they had a mission within their community. To participate in its elevation, particularly with the emancipation of women in all its forms. Their background has allowed them to acquire skills in terms of listening and analyzing the needs of the population and they have therefore decided to use them in the world of marketing to meet the needs of Afro-descendant women.
Brown T wants to encourage the upliftment of black women from an economic, social and cultural perspective. To do this, Brown T is committed to exclusively highlighting Afro-descendant women designers. By giving them exclusive visibility, Brown T wants to be a pillar in the circular economy within the Afro community.
In addition, Brown T is socially engaged by focusing on creating a caring Afro-centered and feminine community that aims to help women on a daily basis feel better about themselves, accept themselves and embrace their differences and their history. Brown T aims to become the benchmark marketplace that offers a solution adapted to the specific needs of Afro women while favoring healthier products that are respectful of the environment and promote overall well-being and self-confidence.
Brown T marketplace offers more than just hair and body products; it provides a holistic experience that values health, natural beauty, Afro entrepreneurship, and sustainability. The brand provides opportunities for Afro women to care for themselves holistically, with a focus on their health, well-being and cultural identity.
