Why Iraq is MENA's sleeping giant

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Hi friends! 👋

With a population of 45+ million, vast natural resources, and one of the world’s youngest, most connected demographics (median age: 20.8), Iraq is arguably one of the last untapped major economies on the planet.

But while the fundamentals are compelling on paper, the reality ,as is so often the case, is more complex. The country’s digital economy remains early, fragmented, and largely informal.

For Mohamed Al-Hakim, the opportunity isn’t abstract. Before launching his VC firm, EQIQ, he set out to build Iraq’s first digital bank, then helped launch Careem in Iraq in early 2018. Two years later, during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, he took over operations in Jordan and became GM of both markets until his departure in 2021. At the bank, misaligned incentives derailed the mission. At Careem, he found the opposite: a platform that backed local operators with capital, context, and conviction. EQIQ was built in that image.

By 2021, Iraq’s startup ecosystem had reached an inflection point. Momentum had been building slowly since 2014, a handful of founders, scattered startup activity, the beginnings of belief. But the market remained in cold start mode: not enough capital for the opportunities that existed, and not enough investable opportunities to justify more capital.

That mismatch wasn’t going to self-correct, and Mohamed deemed that a traditional VC fund wasn’t the answer. Raising a blind pool and deploying passively didn’t fit the market. What Iraq needed was a command centre of sorts, one that could write early checks, build companies from scratch, and create momentum where it didn’t yet exist.

I caught up with Mohamed shortly after EQIQ announced it was doubling its fund size from $15M to $30M.

In this conversation, we explore the realities of what it takes to build a startup in Iraq, how his time launching Careem in Iraq shaped his approach to building at scale, why capital structure flexibility beats rigid ownership targets, why fragmentation, not TAM, is the real signal for venture-scale opportunity, and what it will take for Iraq’s perception to finally catch up with the reality on the ground.

Here’s what we covered:

Let’s get into it 👇

If you're short on time, here’s what investors, founders, and operators, should take away from Mohamed Al-Hakim’s EQIQ playbook.

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Okay, let’s dig into it 👇

You helped launch Careem in Iraq, and then later also took over operations in Jordan – two of the region’s most complex frontier markets. What did that experience teach you about what it takes to build in underdeveloped ecosystems, both the risks and the opportunities, and how did those lessons shape your thesis for EQIQ? 

I joined Careem in 2018 to set up the Iraq business. I’d just come off another venture I started in Iraq, a retail bank. I co-founded it with the idea of building Iraq’s first digital bank. That’s what we worked on for about a year.

But due to various challenges unique to the Iraqi market, mainly the dual exchange rate system, which Egypt and Nigeria also deal with, the bank’s investors eventually wanted to steer it in a different direction. They were focused on FX and exploiting an arbitrage opportunity that, frankly, felt a bit shady. So I decided to walk away. I didn’t come back to Iraq to build shady businesses or make a quick buck.

That experience really taught me that if you want to build something meaningful in a country like Iraq, you need alignment at every level, from your investors and leadership team all the way down to your most junior employee.

I’d actually been trying to convince Careem to launch in Iraq since 2016. It took about a year and a half, maybe two. So when I left the bank, I was actively seeking out investors who shared my vision. Careem wasn’t just aligned, they were the kind of partner that would push me to build something even bigger than I was imagining. And it mattered that they were the first regional tech company willing to even consider launching in Iraq. That opened the door for others to follow.

There’s such a distinctive archetype of founder that seems to emerge from the Careem ecosystem, why do you think that is?

The reason you see so many Careem alumni go on to start companies is because Careem tends to attract a particular kind of personality.

Whether it’s Ibrahim [Manna (BRKZ)], myself, Youssef [Mamou (YoLaFresh)], Sabri [Hakim], the co-founder of Abwaab, who was GM of Jordan before me, we’d all had a couple of startups under our belt before joining Careem. Some moderately successful, some not. But the ambition was always there.

And Careem gave you the muscle, the resources, to learn how to build at scale. I remember having a lot of open conversations with Mudassir [Sheikha] and Ibrahim about eventually starting my own thing. And Mudassir was incredibly supportive. He’d say, “Look, you're learning, use Careem as a platform to figure out how to do this at scale.”

When we launched in Iraq, Careem was already a unicorn. There were over a thousand people in the company, it had launched in 13 markets. The product was mature. We could learn from their successes and failures. It was a startup on steroids, and that gives you a really unique perspective on what it takes to scale something fast. And we did.

That experience, especially in Iraq where we started from scratch, was invaluable. Later, I took over Jordan during and after COVID, and it was a completely different business with a completely different set of challenges to solve. I learned a lot from both.

Those lessons, across both markets, across both phases, are things I’ve carried with me into EQIQ. Whether as a VC, a venture builder, or as a mentor to founders trying to launch, scale, and problem-solve, that operational DNA is still very much with me.

It’s really interesting, especially what you said about Careem being a platform for agency and operational muscle. That feels like a thread running through what you’re doing with EQIQ as well. From the outside, at least, it seems like that’s kind of a foundational part of the thesis.

Did you always plan for EQIQ to be structured as a venture builder? Or was there ever a moment where you thought about just starting one company and scaling it from there?

I started a few companies after coming back to Iraq in 2014. I set up an investment firm, then a fintech, which I later exited. I also co-founded the bank, and then launched Careem in Iraq. Around that time, I was also raising money for other ventures.

Since 2014, I’ve worn a few hats, angel investor, mentor, operator. Even while I was at Careem, we supported a lot of startups through partnerships to help them scale.

By 2021, I felt like the ecosystem in Iraq had stagnated a bit. A lot had happened between 2014 and then, events, activities, some momentum, and a few startups did emerge from that. But most were small-scale, driven by individual founders on their own. And overall, it felt like we were stuck in a cold start phase: not enough capital for the opportunities that existed, and not enough opportunities for the capital that was available.

There was this clear mismatch between supply and demand, and it didn’t feel like the market would correct itself organically, or at least not quickly. Iraq is a free market, any company from anywhere can enter. So I felt we were at risk of missing the opportunity to build local tech champions, especially in Iraq, but even across the broader MENA region.

I considered launching a fund. But even in 2021, I felt like the traditional VC fund model was outdated, especially in a place like Iraq. The idea of raising a blind pool of capital, deploying it passively, and showing up once a month to a board meeting, it just doesn’t work here. You have to be hands-on. In the trenches. Sometimes, you even have to build the thing yourself.

That’s where the idea for the venture builder came from, out of a desire to really kickstart the ecosystem. Because you can’t just be a passive investor. And I also think the ecosystem, in Iraq and maybe across MENA, is still missing one crucial ingredient: resounding success stories.

We always talk about Careem. Maybe Talabat now too. But there just aren’t enough of those examples. We don’t have many big exits. And because of that, the region remains underserved, by international capital, by global talent.

I mean, sure, Dubai’s a bit of an exception. It’s its own thing. But most other countries in the region are still malnourished when it comes to capital and talent. So we have to manufacture momentum.

That’s what a venture builder is. A factory for success stories. That’s what we’re trying to create. And I see that as my role in the ecosystem, to help enable at least one or two breakout companies that prove what’s possible. Just like Careem did. That’s what creates a ripple effect, it inspires a generation of entrepreneurs.

It helps people dream a little. It pushes them to take more risks.

That’s the essence of the venture builder. I couldn’t see it happening through a traditional VC model.

And when it comes to building operating companies in Iraq, it’s not just about launching a service…

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