This Entrepreneur Built an All-Female Driving School -- in Egypt Nayrouz Talaat's Direxiona driving school is often ridiculed and dismissed by conservative local men. But she doesn't have time to listen. Business is booming.
By Menna Farouk
This story appears in the November 2018 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
In 2001, Nayrouz Talaat figured it was time she learned to drive. The Cairo-based journalist was, after all, 20 at the time. But as she explored driving schools, she found only male instructors -- something that didn't make her feel particularly safe or comfortable.
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She asked her uncle to teach her to drive instead, and realized that her experience wasn't unique. Many Egyptian women rely on relatives to teach them to drive because the alternative is to be alone with an unfamiliar male instructor and at risk of sexual harassment. It got her thinking: Why should Egyptian women rely on men at all?
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