They didn’t wait for the chance, they made it

They didn’t wait for the chance; they made it. These are some of the Egyptians whose careers prove that the dream starts with you.

Side-by-side photographs show them at the start and at the top: actors Karim Abdel Aziz, Ahmed Ezz, Ahmed Zaki, Adel Emam, Mona Zaki and Ahmed Helmy, and the heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub.

Each began far from where they ended up, and each became a household name in Egypt and across the Arab world.