Abstract
Shady El Tohfa, founder and CEO of Amenli, Egypt's first fully digital insurance start-up, must decide whether the company should consolidate its position in Egypt or pursue geographic expansion to accelerate growth and diversify risk. While both strategic paths offer significant opportunities, each requires different organisational capabilities, investment priorities, and operational structures. At the same time, Amenli faces mounting pressure to balance its entrepreneurial, fast-moving culture with the growing need for institutionalisation, regulatory compliance, and scalable management systems. Founded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Amenli transformed Egypt's traditionally conservative insurance industry by pioneering online insurance quoting and digital payments. Through close collaboration with regulators, strategic partnerships, and the introduction of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions, the company rapidly expanded access to insurance products in an economically volatile emerging market. Backed by Y Combinator and international investors, Amenli later shifted from retail insurance toward scalable SME and embedded-insurance partnerships while integrating AI into customer experience and operations. The case explores themes of entrepreneurship, digital transformation, growth strategy, AI integration, institutionalisation, and innovation in emerging markets, while challenging students to evaluate strategic scaling decisions under conditions of uncertainty and economic instability.