Naturally, when you picture an entrepreneur in your head, you probably think of a sustainable business. For some reason, the picture is accompanied by a specific range of businesses in fashion, food, recycling, or phone applications. However, did it ever come to your mind that entrepreneurs can be found in the film industry as well? Well, here is someone who laid the foundation to a whole new track in his entrepreneurial hub, which specifically tackles the cinema industry…
Meet Adly Thoma
Remarkably, Thoma wears so many hats. He is an Executive Chairman and CEO of Gemini Africa, a passionate project management instructor, Panelist in several prestigious platforms such as the IFC, the African Union, Creative Industry Summit, and TEDx…The list goes on and on.
925 conducted an interview with Adly to discover more about his approaches in supporting the film industry. More importantly, we were curious to know more about the infamous shift from his engineering background.
Why Partner with Creative Industry Summit?
“Well, being part of the Creative Industry Summit is a real pleasure for me. I feel like being part of the family although it’s my first edition to be a partner and have a track within the summit. I believe it will make a big impact on the creative economy in Egypt and the Middle East. It is our role to work together and collaborate in order to push this type of trendy industry worldwide.” He stated.
“If you look at the numbers, the economy behind the creative industry is so big. So the collaboration is necessary to push and pick opportunities.” He added.
How Did Gemini Africa Become the Arm of Orascom Group in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem?
“It’s a bit of a long story. When we established the company back in 2018, we were focusing on having a significant impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We not only started in Egypt but in several countries in Africa as well. Further on, we discovered that we needed to play the role of the bridge between the holding company, Orascom Group, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the digital market. This enabled us to have a direct connection with both sides.
Having said that, we work in three directions – or what I call three tracks – Under the name of “Three Ms”
Money, Membership, and Matchmaking
“We go by this motto: ‘Collaboration supersedes Competition.’ Therefore, we are so keen on being an entrepreneurial hub to connect dots not only investors. We feel like money alone isn’t always the right answer.”
CinemaTech: The Link Between Entrepreneurship and Cinema
“This is the point where Gemini Africa and the Creative Industry Summit cross paths. We believe that we have good connections and a good network. That’s why we set out to approach untapped businesses from an entrepreneurial perspective. On top of those businesses, lies the film industry.
What is the Relation Between Those Two Different Worlds?
“They certainly speak slightly different languages. But I believe that we found how to mingle between those two worlds…It’s simply technology.
The cinema industry in Egypt needs development through technology. And the one who masters technology and has creative ideas is the entrepreneur.”
How Do you Support Entrepreneurs in the Film Industry?
“We have lots of activations in many events such as El Gouna Film Festival, whereby we select ten startups in this field. They, then, pitch in front of a jury of prominent figures such as Naguib Sawiris, Sherine Reda, Amir Ramsis, Nardine Farag, Saba Mubarak, Amina Khalil, Ramy Rezkallah, and Shahinaz El Akkad. So, we offer a real opportunity for them to connect with the industry.”
Adly’s Experience from the IFC, the African Union, and TEDx
“This is part of my beliefs and my values, which is to try to give back as much as I can to the world. For people like me, it’s our role to support the youth and the startup community. We’ve had a long journey of ups and downs. Therefore, we have to share our learned lessons and experience.
Hence, I am present in almost all summits, seminars, and panels as much as I can. Most importantly, my objective is to discuss the success factors in order to save the youth time.”
Are There Future Plans in the Industry Directly Linked to CinemaTech?
“Actually, there is a lot. We decided not to keep the glory of having an Intellectual Property (IP) in the cinema and the entrepreneurial industries. Personally, I think that if we don’t take it to the next level, it will die.
Definitely, we have a very clear direction and objective for the near future. In terms of learning, we will announce very soon the first incubator for the CinemaTech field in the Middle East and Africa. Mainly, this is to support startups and entrepreneurs that have solutions and technologies for all aspects of the arts.
This incubator will help support those people with business modeling. We have a lot of technical people but they lack the business side of things.
That’s exactly why we will launch at least one incubator — if not two – during 2022.
As for the entrepreneurial side, we will launch new tools and services in 2022 to help the industry develop. Frankly, we believe that we will have good production using our new products and services. So stay tuned for that as well.”
As for People in the Industry Who Don’t Have That Much Room for Exposure (VFX Artists, Score Composers, Colorists…etc.) How Can the Incubator Help Them Get into the Industry?
“This is exactly what the incubator is about which is to support such people. They have the technical side and are very talented when it comes to using technology. Yet, they are not ready to offer their services, services, or ideas to the market.
So, we will take their hand and make them ready to maybe become a standalone business, work together, have some ideation, form groups, and most importantly help them establish their own company. From that point, we can take it to the next level.”
Between Being a University Professor and a Consultant
It usually boggles university students. How does a professor balance between his job at the university and his outside work as anything else; a consultant in Adly’s case?
“It is part of my passion really. I love teaching and sharing experience and knowledge for a very long time. I graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University. At that time, it was a very technical period. Normally, I started my career as an engineer. Then I became a manager in an engineering position and so on.
At that point, I felt that I have something different and I had to discover myself. That’s why I started to teach and conduct training for project management. Suddenly, it became my passion to become a project management instructor and it switched my career totally. I have been teaching it now for more than 15 years all over the world.
Then I decided to take this to the next level by obtaining a Master’s Degree in project management from the state of Georgia, USA. Since then, I’ve been teaching at AUC, Ain Shams University, and Cairo University.
All of the new rising technology has helped me balance between my passion for teaching and studying project management and my day job.”
Thoma Was Nominated to Be a Member of the High Committee of Practitioners in the Arab Academy and Also Nominated to Be on the Board of Aswan Festival…
How Do You See Your Presence and Interaction with Such Events Effective in Expressing Your Creative Ideas in the Field?
“It’s always important to touch base with the academia and the entities that work on-ground. Let me give you an example. In terms of the Arab Academy, the main objective of the High Committee is to link between the practice and the lectures. We are on top of what’s happening in Huge universities such as MIT and Harvard. It is all about linking the theory with the business.
Therefore, this is an important role and we have to support such direction. It is exciting to be a part of this new trend in Egypt. Also, the company and I deliberately decided to partner with Aswan Film Festival and be one of the board members. To tell you the truth, we have common values. We believe in impact and in giving opportunities and chances to the youth. It is in our core belief that impact is the most important outcome of what we do. That’s why we decided to support the Film Festival.”
The Tip of the Iceberg
Having finished this interview, one is left to wonder if unpopular ideas can actually have their place in the wave of trends. Who would have thought that entrepreneurship could cross paths with the arts of cinema?
Here and now, Egypt is witnessing yet a new track of entrepreneurship opening is arms wide for glory-thirsty young people. Here and now, it’s time for the riffing artists inside their studios to come out to the light and show their scripts, melodies, and techniques to the industry; hopefully giving rise to a new era in Egyptian and Arab Cinema.
