Egypt’s Record Startups Confront Economy Paralyzed by Unrest

As clashes between Egyptian soldiers and protesters left dozens dead in October 2011, Ahmed Zahran was betting his savings on converting the water pumps used by farmers from running on diesel to solar energy.

The 33-year-old spent 65,000 Egyptian pounds ($9,400) starting KarmSolar with three friends and landed the first client last year in Egypt’s Western Desert as fuel shortages worsened. Almost 9,000 other companies were set up in the 12 months to June this year, the most since Egypt began publishing statistics on startups in 2004.