Opteam co-founder Ahmed Hegazy emphasizes how their AI-driven automation is revolutionizing construction management—minimizing delays, eliminating inefficiencies, and transforming project tracking and decision-making across the MENA region.
What inspired you and your co-founder, Dr. Tarek Hegazy, to establish Opteam, and how does your combined experience influence the company’s vision?
Well, first of all, my father being a co-founder means I have a professional and personal answer to this question. The professional answer is that we both come from different sides of the same industry, which is extremely complimentary.
Dr Tarek has worked in and researched construction project management for 20+ years, while I spent my career in the business side of enterprise software, including project management. His industry knowledge and my business experience means we are very well equiped to take on this market.
On the personal side if I am being truly honest, it is an emotional and meaningful journey for me to take my father’s life’s work and contribute to his legacy.
Can you elaborate on how Opteam’s AI-driven construction management software addresses the specific challenges faced by the construction industry in the MENA region?
You might be surprised to learn that the MENA region suffers from the highest amount of time and cost overruns than anywhere else in the world! Although projects in the region are extremely innovative and ambitious, execution still relies on tools that were invented in the 70’s (around the same year the internet was invented).
It is both a well-researched conclusion and a known fact that proper tracking is the most effective way to combat delays. So Opteam uses AI to automate the extremely manual process of collecting progress data from the site. Basically, the system communicates with the team over WhatsApp and dashboards and reports the latest status in the most reliable and least intrusive way possible.
With the recent pre-seed funding, what are your immediate priorities for enhancing Opteam’s AI capabilities and expanding your team?
Our goal now is to drive sales and adoption of Opteam primarily in the UAE. As we have recently launched the product and have current users, it is critical for us to continue to shape the solution according to the needs of the industry. So our biggest priority is being active on the ground, marketing the product, engaging with customers and feeding the input directly to our tech team to fuel improvements. To that end, we are growing our dev team to keep up with the very fast pace.
How does Opteam’s generative scheduling feature work, and what advantages does it offer over traditional project management methods?
Given that over 70% of projects face unavoidable delays, a key question is not just how to prevent them, but also how to react effectively when they occur. Opteam’s generative scheduling feature allows project managers to generate new, alternate pathways to complete the project from any point in time. This allows them to generate scenarios that achieve their objectives within their resource limitations.
If you’ve seen the movie The Avengers, there is a scene where Dr. Strange peers into the future to view all the possible outcomes of the coming battle. This allowed him to identify the best outcome, and informed his decisions to make this result a certainty. That’s essentially what we’ve done for project management!
Could you discuss the strategic significance of your partnerships with investors like Plus VC, Dar Ventures, SIAC Ventures, and Oraseya Capital?
We at Opteam are extremely fortunate to have such a powerful lineup of investors. Each investor brings a unique value that is essential to our growth, and each one’s participation in our journey represents its own unique validation.
Dar Ventures is owned by Dar Al Handasah, one of the largest construction consultants in the region.
SIAC Ventures is owned by SIAC, one of the most strategic construction contractors in the region.
Oraseya Capital is owned by DIEZ, which has several construction projects for which they are the owner.
And, PlusVC is one of the region’s most active and well respected VCs, representing the business and startup world. This gives us critical access to finance, operational, sales/marketing, and other cirtical support and resources
What strategies are you implementing to establish and grow Opteam’s market presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia?
The first thing is that Opteam is extremely consumable to use. Companies in UAE and Saudi can simply create an account on the website, and they get a free trial with unlimited features. To start using the software, they just drag and drop their schedule file. It’s that easy.
In addition to this, the strongest pathway to B2B startup success in this region is network. We are grateful that companies have been seeing such value that our inbound traffic is quite high and fills our pipeline with new opportunities.
How does Opteam’s platform integrate advanced data analytics, mobile progress tracking, and automation to optimize construction project outcomes?
Did you know that 15% of construction time is being spent looking for information? This is because of the heavy reliance on manual data entry, multiple tools, and spreadsheets being sent between the office and the construction site to collect progress. On average, just for an update to be preported, the process of collecting and organizing progress data takes 2 weeks.
Opteam automates communication to the people on the site, sending progress data straight to their mobile. This allows Opteam to give real-time dashboards and insights on the latest status, flag risks, and create recovery strategies for the project. On average, we see that the task of collecting progress can be simplified by up to 80%.
Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals for Opteam, and how do you envision your technology transforming the construction industry?
95% of construction data goes unused. We will most certainly target this data and invest more into our AI analytics capabilities. By doing so, countless manual and extremely expensive processes, such as analyzing delays, preparing claims, and more, can be automated.
The other area we are examining is creating a 3D visualization of the construction site. This would further reduce the gap between the office and the construction site teams and provide critical information when it is needed.
