Ep. 238 From Egypt to Silicon Valley Building Global Business Growth

Show Notes:

What does it take to leave behind a successful career, move to a new country without a concrete plan, and build a company that helps startups expand across continents?

In this episode of Business Growth Spotlight, Heidi Schalk sits down with Yousra Gaballah, founder of Sprintly Partners, to discuss how she transformed uncertainty into opportunity. Originally from Egypt, Yousra shares her remarkable journey through leadership roles at Careem, Amazon, and the startup ecosystem before launching a company dedicated to helping founders bridge the gap between the Middle East and the United States.

The conversation explores international expansion, startup growth, operational scaling, AI implementation, fundraising, and why relationships still matter in an increasingly automated world. Yousra also shares practical advice for founders looking to scale beyond their home markets and explains why sometimes you have to start before you're ready.

Bio:

Yousra Gaballah is the Founder and CEO of Sprintly Partners, a Silicon Valley-based firm bridging the Middle East and Silicon Valley ecosystems. Through Sprintly, she supports Middle Eastern founders expanding into the U.S. market, as well as U.S. founders and companies looking to unlock opportunities across the Middle East.

Yousra’s work sits at the intersection of growth, market expansion, investor readiness, and ecosystem building. She has led and supported multiple cross-border programs connecting MENA founders with Silicon Valley investors, accelerators, mentors, and corporate partners, working with ecosystem players such as Techstars, Plug and Play, 500 Global, Monsha’at in Saudi Arabia, Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, and other regional partners. Through these programs, she has helped founders access U.S. networks, secure investments, and build stronger expansion and fundraising pathways.

Before founding Sprintly Partners, Yousra spent over a decade working across growth, product, and market expansion roles in the Middle East and the U.S. She contributed to regional expansion and logistics growth initiatives at Amazon across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, and worked on market growth for Careem across North Africa prior and during the acquisition by Uber. She has also supported startups across logistics, e-learning, and content in scaling regionally.

Earlier in her career, Yousra worked on mobile internet growth and customer value management in the telecom sector with Vodafone and Etisalat, where she focused on user growth, engagement, retention, and data-driven commercial strategy.

Yousra also mentors founders across both ecosystems, including through Techstars and Plug and Play in the U.S., and regional programs across the Middle East in KAUST & Monsha'at. She studied Economics and Political Economy at the American University in Cairo, with additional academic experience in the U.S. at UC Berkeley and the University of Washington in Seattle.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yousra-gaballah-328a034a/ 

Website:  www.sprintlypartners.com 

Connect with me:

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

🎁Spotlight to Scale Blueprint:  https://spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint 

🎁Join us for a free 60 Minute Webinar on Visibility and Getting Recommended by AI:  https://becomeairecommended.com/grow