I don’t see these projects as isolated islands. Every one of them carries something from the one before it, and each one taught me something I used in the next.
Raafat Agha
Builder
Systems thinker
ERP specialist
Product maker
Self-taught
Workshop-raised
Bachatero
Nervous diver
Traveler
YouTuber
Ex-restaurateur
Unfinished student
My name is Ahmed Raafat. Most people know me as Raafat Agha.
I build things, fix things, and usually end up asking why they work the way they do in the first place.
I worked in trade and manufacturing before I got into technology. Tech started as curiosity, then became work, then business, and eventually a way I think about problems in general.
This isn’t a CV, and it isn’t here to sell you a service.
A few facts
4M+YouTube views
10K+Subscribers
Dial-upWhere the questions started
DownstairsWorkshop before the internet
If you want to know who Raafat Agha is, start here.
The story
It started downstairs
I grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Cairo, in a family that worked in trade and manufacturing. There was a workshop downstairs from our home.
By the time I was around 16, I was already working with my father and uncles: buying raw plastic, following mold-making work, standing next to machines during testing and production, and eventually learning to run some of the machines myself. I also distributed products to traders and worked in sales and trade.
Before I knew what ERP meant, I already knew what raw materials, machines, stock, customers, suppliers, cash in, and cash out looked like in real life.
Then I found the internet
Back when the internet meant dial-up, and my computer had 64 MB of RAM before I proudly upgraded it to 128 MB, my friends cared about games. I was stuck on something else: what was that handshake and the number that appeared when the connection started?
So I started looking.
Server. IP. DNS. HTML. PHP.
One small question opened an entire world.
I learned domains, hosting, and website building, and yes, I used FrontPage too. Then I stumbled into open source and free software. That changed more than how I used software. It changed how I thought: open things up, understand them, question why they’re built that way, and don’t assume the current way is the only way.
I went deeper into Linux, working with CentOS, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu, and started dealing directly with servers.
Because I already had a commercial background, turning that knowledge into business felt natural. I started selling domains and hosting, then website design and development, while still working in trade and manufacturing and trying to study at the same time.
Education
After preparatory school, I went to commercial secondary school, then joined a Management Information Systems institute. I cared about accounting, management, and the subjects I could actually use, but I was never interested in being a model student.
Part of the curriculum felt disconnected from the world I was already learning and working in. I learned what felt useful, but I didn’t finish university.
I don’t treat that as an achievement, and I don’t treat it as something to hide. It simply happened. Self-learning and work took a bigger share of my attention.
The journey
First project
Nojoom Online
Passed
While I was still studying, I opened my first project: a computer services and maintenance center called Nojoom Online. I ran it for around two years. It was the first time I had my own place, customers, expenses, problems, and responsibility that was fully mine.
2014–2016
Mogarrad Fekra
Passed
Then I moved into something completely different: a print and digital publishing house called Mogarrad Fekra. We published books for a number of writers, and the project ran for roughly two years.
Not everything I’ve built has been about technology. That’s part of the point.
2015
Gahzny
Passed
In 2015 I built Gahzny — an Arabic platform for women preparing for marriage. It helped her figure out what she needed, where to get it, how, and for how much. The idea was to stay with her step by step: after the wedding, through family life, through a first pregnancy, and until the first child.
Gahzny.com — from getting ready for marriage to the first years of building a home.
2016–2021
Imagine
Passed
I worked under the name Imagine, offering digital solutions, mainly websites and digital marketing. Over time, the work moved from websites to e-commerce and then into deeper business systems.
2016–2017
Raafat's Corner - Dahab
Passed
At one point, I stepped away from screens for about a year and moved into F&B. I opened a restaurant and café in Dahab called Nasya Raafat.
It was real operations: suppliers, staff, customers, inventory, cash, mistakes at the end of the day, and problems that had to be fixed before the next one started.
I came back to technology with an even clearer view that software only matters if it helps real people run real businesses.
Built · didn’t make it
ItsTask
Tried
I built a freelancing platform inspired by models like Upwork. It didn’t make it. Building the product wasn’t enough, and marketing was a bigger problem than I managed to solve at the time.
Built · timing
EgyAdviser
Tried
I also built a directory for lawyers. The market wasn’t ready for it in the way I expected. Or maybe I simply didn’t stay with it long enough. I still think both are possible.
I don’t like rewriting the past so I can always look right. Sometimes the idea is wrong. Sometimes the timing is wrong. Sometimes you stop too early.
2021–2026
RA Solutions
Passed
I brought a large part of my work under RA Solutions. The core idea stayed simple: understand the business first, then choose the technology that actually helps it.
Over time, I specialized more deeply in ERP, especially Odoo, and Systems Cart grew into a brand focused on ERP support and implementation.
Since 2021
HostingCart
Running
I kept doing some of the things I started with years ago: domains, hosting, business email, and related reseller services under HostingCart.us.
Since 2023
Jamrtech
Running
I founded Jamrtech in the United States as a separate company for building and operating SaaS and PaaS products.
2026 →
Systems Cart
Running
Systems Cart built its own name and customer base, then became a separate company. Today, it’s where I focus on ERP implementation, support, and operations.
I like ERP because it brings together so many parts of my life in one place: trade, manufacturing, accounting, management, operations, and technology.
Helping people start
At different points, I helped entrepreneurs get businesses off the ground: choosing the right tools, analyzing markets, working through business plans and Business Model Canvas, and turning a problem or idea into something that could actually be tested.
I also trained young people across different Egyptian governorates on innovation and business kickoff: how to notice a problem, shape an idea around it, and try to turn it into a business.
YouTube
I’ve had a YouTube channel since 2020. The content has passed 4 million views, and the channel has grown beyond 10,000 subscribers.
I don’t see that as a badge I need to prove anything with. It’s simply part of the public trail I’ve built over the years.
What I’m running now
So what do I actually do?
If you ask me what I do, the answer usually needs more than one job title.
On the same day, I might be understanding a process inside a factory, fixing an ERP problem, reviewing a server, thinking through a product, or discussing a business model.
I get bored by routine very quickly. My work happens to fit that flaw pretty well.
Technology isn’t the goal for me. It’s a tool.
The real work is understanding the problem properly and choosing the right way to solve it. Sometimes that’s software. Sometimes infrastructure. Sometimes ERP. And sometimes the right answer is not to build anything at all.
A few things I try to work and live by
Do it properly
I don’t like the “just get it done” mindset. I try to do things properly from the start and look for reliable solutions that can keep working for a long time, without being loyal to a tool just because I know it.
Have fun and earn money
I choose my clients and my projects. If I can see from the beginning that a project is likely to fail, or that the relationship with the client won’t work, I usually turn it down. I don’t take projects just for the money, and I don’t work for free. I want to believe in what I’m doing, enjoy doing it, and get paid well for it.
Money is a tool and a metric
My father once told me: “If the metro ticket costs five pounds and you only have four, you’re not getting on.”
Money isn’t the point for me. It’s a tool that gives you choices, and in business it’s also a metric. If we say something is successful, at some point we need a way to measure it: customers, retention, revenue, assets, time saved, cost reduced, or some other clear result.
A good story is not a metric.
Freedom is not being forced
Freedom, to me, isn’t doing whatever you want. It’s not being forced to take work you hate because you need the money, or to flatter, lie, or twist yourself into something you’re not. It’s having enough room to say no and live with the consequences.
Failure is normal. Probably necessary.
If you’ve never failed, you probably haven’t tried enough things whose outcome wasn’t already obvious.
The problem isn’t that you failed. The question is: what did you do next?
My resources are limited
Time, effort, money, attention. All of them are limited. One of the things I hate most is realizing I invested one of them in the wrong place, whether that’s a project, a person, or an entire direction.
Everything passes
I’ve been through enough personal, financial, and psychological rough periods to learn one thing very clearly: everything ends.
The good passes. The bad passes. Success passes. Crises pass.
The current moment, no matter how big it feels, is never the whole story.
People
I respect clarity, good intentions, situational awareness, and flexibility.
When I’m done with someone, I don’t like dragging conflict out. I usually step back and move on.
At work, I have very little patience for negligence, greed, lack of responsibility, or indifference.
Off
I’m social, selective, and sometimes very comfortable being alone. Contradictory? Fine.
I love travel, long drives, and cars. I used to dance Latin, especially Bachata and Kizomba. I like art, theatre, and things that feel made with intention.
I love cooking — a lot. With people I care about, I like eating together, and cooking together.
I have an Open Water diving certification. The funny part is that I’m not a great swimmer, and I can get seriously uncomfortable when my feet can’t touch the ground… but I dive.
I also love Suits, and Harvey Specter in particular stayed with me. Not because of the swagger, but because of the idea that someone can look completely composed while still being a normal human dealing with fear, pressure, failure, and problems — and keep trying to fix what breaks.
“Anybody can do my job, but no one can be me.”
— Harvey Specter, Suits
Say hello
It doesn’t have to be about work.
Maybe you have an idea, a question, a disagreement with something I wrote, or you just want to say hi.
If you think we should talk, send me a message.
- YouTube youtube.com/@raafatagha
- Instagram @agharaafat
- Facebook agharaafat
- LinkedIn /in/agharaafat