A Daring Enterprise: A US-Egyptian Partnership and the Case for Soft Power

The United States has been implementing steep cuts to its overseas aid development programmes since Donald Trump became US president in 2024. In 2025, US Foreign Aid went from $200 billion to $174 billion with proposals for more cuts. Most of the aid effected include humanitarian relief as well as stabilisation projects, within the circles of the current administration foreign aid is treated as an unacceptable freebie or handout that gives the United States very little in return.

While USAID is treated as a drain at best on America’s resources and at worst an attempt by the old liberal elite to benefit foreigners over Americans, few who demonise it understand what USAID actually does. Cuts to these programmes hamper global efforts in emergency relief as well as helping countries to get back on their feet. It is here that we find an intervention into the debate by James A Harmon, Cornelius Queen and Mark Warren with their latest book A Daring Enterprise: A US-Egyptian Partnership and the Case for Soft Power. The authors were part of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, which was set up in 2011 with US congressional money with the aim of rebuilding Egypt’s private sector following the Arab Spring uprising.

The authors argue, ‘Our mission, simply put, has been to influence and improve the Egyptian private sector, so that a stable Egypt might be a solid ally and good trading partner for its neighbors and for the United States, and not a national security problem for the American military to try and solve later on.’ In other words, the book is a case of US soft power and contrary to what some believe, serves a vital US national interest that benefits both Egyptians as well as Washington. A stable Egypt is better than an unstable Egypt as the country is very much part of America’s regional strategic interests and this being the case, an unstable Cairo would end up eating up more US resources, rather than less. The book is also an appeal to America’s liberal values and core beliefs around freedom and democracy. The book notes that while young Egyptians failed to bring democracy to their country in 2011 politically, if we look at the private sector from dating apps, e-commerce, restaurants and new business ventures, Egyptians have started to develop a freer and more democratic economic space, which gives them more choice. In 2011, Egypt barely had a startup culture and by 2019, it was one of the major hubs for startups in the Middle East and North Africa region.

A Daring Enterprise takes us on a personal journey into the most successful US Foreign Aid Fund, which is the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund. The programme has attracted $1.7 billion in foreign investment into Egypt’s private sector since 2011, but what makes the book interesting is not the data points or arguments for why it is necessary. What makes the book attractive is the stories of how many Egyptians transformed their lives, despite the obstacles, we encounter different characters along the way. Stories like Sameh, an Egyptian entrepreneur, who introduced Egyptians to dating apps filtered in line with local cultural norms and traditions. What spurred him into this venture was his mother asking him for help to find a suitable match for his sister.

He founded Harmonica, which received seed money from the fund, and proved to be highly successful. ‘In early 2019, in a move that sent shock waves across the region, Match acquired Harmonica in their first major entry into the Middle East.’ A story like this demonstrates the shift in the way foreign investors saw Egypt, it had gone from being a place to avoid to being a place they were eager to enter.  The success of EAEF in helping Egypt build a startup culture was not immediately obvious when the fund began. Between 2011 to 2015, they had few investments and as the book explains often had to fight for their life. Part of the issue is the Fund required congressional approval, which subjected it to the whims of America’s partisan politics. As the chapter with US senator Lindsey Graham shows, he threatened to cut off money going to the Fund and was unconcerned about what it meant for Egypt. While one of the authors of this book tried to convince Graham that this was beneficial to Egypt and US policy, Graham waved off the concerns and lashed out at President Barack Obama. He was holding up the funds because he blamed Obama for the mess in the Middle East, ‘Spite against President Obama, Graham confirmed, motivated his actions against the fund.’

A Daring Enterprise makes for an interesting read as it offers a window into the workings of initiatives that form part of USAID programmes. It is an insiders account and part of an advocacy effort to get the current US administration as well as those concerned about US foreign policy to see the impact of such programmes and what cutting it would mean. Understanding this as background will enable scholars, journalists, researchers and laymen to draw their own conclusions about the value of USAID and the arguments advanced in the book. A Daring Enterprise offers a personalised look into how USAID held up in the turmoil of postrevolutionary Egypt and accounts about how young Egyptians sought to build their own futures.