Providing assistance in Egypt and beyond
Oliver Cuenca talks with Mohamed Essam, Managing Director of Egypt Assistance, about his work and how his company has evolved
What are the primary responsibilities of your current role?
As Managing Director for Egypt Assistance, there are multiple tasks in my role – it is a combination of duties, including managing the overall administration and operations tasks of the whole company to improve efficiency performance; delegating roles and responsibilities to the team; retaining and motivating employees; and solving problems. On the other hand, I’m tasked with developing and expanding the scope of the company’s business by representing it at conferences, fairs, and business events inside and outside Egypt; meeting with our customers and service providers; supporting our customers and keeping our business running efficiently; and looking for business opportunities.
Let’s say that the most important thing in my role is to keep everyone satisfied – whether the employees, customers, service providers, or shareholders.
What are the advantages, as an assistance provider, of being based in Egypt?
Egypt has a strategic location, and recent economic reforms have contributed to creating a favourable business environment. Also, the nation’s advantageous position makes it a prime base for companies wishing to reach local and global marketplaces.
For global business in the travel and medical assistance sector specifically, Egypt attracts travellers from all over the world due to its rich historical and cultural heritage and wonderful beaches. With this advantage, we can guarantee an influx of travellers – which means there is a need for assistance service providers who can support them in Egypt.
Locally, the large and diverse population offers a significant customer base for businesses looking to expand their market reach. This has supported us in establishing roadside assistance and employee assistance business lines in Egypt.
Finally, Egypt also has a large and relatively affordable labour force, with a highly educated and skilled population.
How is Egypt Assistance looking to expand its operations in future – particularly relating to your international travel and medical assistance services?
One of the main strategies of Egypt Assistance is to continue expanding the field of international travel and medical assistance by entering new markets and launching innovative solutions that can support our expansion strategy. The Gulf region is a particularly strong focus for strategic expansion, and is an area where we are looking to establish strong partnerships.
Egypt has a strategic location, and recent economic reforms have contributed to creating a favourable business environment
Our main focus is on developing services that address evolving needs and trends in the market, to support existing customers and attract new ones. This will improve customer feedback collection and allow us to remain flexible to adapt to changing preferences. The most important thing for us is to increase customer satisfaction, because that is at the forefront to build trust and attract wider customers.
As a subsidiary of Remed Assistance, how does Egypt Assistance interact and collaborate with its parent company?
Remed Assistance always supports Egypt Assistance with its experience and technological advancement. Egypt Assistance uses the same communications channels as Remed, such as the same customer relationship management (CRM) and call centre system. We also interact regularly with Remed through regular communication channels, such as meetings, reports, and shared databases.
Moreover, coordination may involve strategic planning, financial reporting, and operational updates to maintain cohesion within the corporate structure.
What would you say are the main challenges facing assistance companies worldwide, and how is Egypt Assistance tackling these?
There are many challenges facing assistance companies worldwide. One of the most important issues is the cost of medical treatment, which is increasing day by day due to inflation and the economic crises worldwide, as well as the impact of medical fraud. Both those issues lead to increased losses for insurance companies and thus negatively impact the services provided to travellers.
Accordingly, our main challenge is to decrease medical treatment costs through our cost containment and medical teams.
Moreover, the competition – while this is a good thing – also becomes a challenge, as all companies compete harder to attract customers. However, our excellence in providing services of exceptional quality helps to maintain Egypt Assistance’s reputation in the market, as does the technological advancement that we constantly seek to meet the requirements of our customers.
Egypt Assistance also provides support for medical tourism – what are the opportunities of working in this sector? How fast is medical tourism growing in Egypt?
Medical tourism is another field in which Egypt Assistance specialises, offering considerable and extensive experience to patients who are seeking alternative options for medical treatment in Egypt.
Medical tourism opportunities in Egypt can include offering specialised treatments, surgeries, or wellness programmes. Partnering with accredited healthcare facilities, marketing internationally, and providing comprehensive packages can attract patients seeking affordable and high-quality medical services. Additionally, we can leverage Egypt’s cultural and historical attractions, which can enhance the overall experience for medical tourists.
Egypt has a rapidly growing medical tourism market that can generate revenue to support the Egyptian economy. Every year the country welcomes a large number of tourists, which can be extended to medical tourism.
You have been with Egypt Assistance for 18 years now – including serving over 16 years as Managing Director. How has the company changed and evolved in that time?
Since then, we have expanded our business in the field of travel and medical assistance – not only in Egypt, but also beyond the borders, especially in the UAE, Tunisia, Jordan, and Morocco. Locally, we also established a new roadside assistance business line, and within the first three years, we were able to contract with the largest insurance companies and the largest brands of car manufacturers in Egypt, such as Mercedes and BMW.
Egypt has a rapidly growing medical tourism market that can generate revenue to support the Egyptian economy
Additionally, through our business diversification strategy, we established another business line called the employee assistance programme (EAP) to provide mental health counselling to customers in Egypt. We now provide this service to some of the largest multinational companies inside Egypt such as Siemens, HSBC, Amazon, and Henkel.
We have also become a core partner of IAG – International Assistance Group – to support our international business and to share experience with other members of the assistance industry.