Editor's note: Shama Kabani, the CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, as well as a speaker and author on the topic of entrepreneurship, is blogging for Portfolio.com from Egypt. She's part of a delegation sent to mentor young Egyptians as they set out to create new businesses. Read more about the trip here.

For two days, the young Egyptian entrepreneurs we’ve been mentoring have been focusing on business challenges my fellow U.S. and Danish delegates and I have given them. On the third day, we told them it was their turn to challenge us. We picked four of their suggestions, which we felt would apply to the majority of their fledgling companies. But they still had work to do—they had to come up with solutions.

The first group I met with had an excellent start-up idea revolving around group-buying websites. They didn’t have any business plan, nor a PowerPoint. They just had a really good idea with some sense of the direction forward. I decided that I wasn’t doing them any favors if my feedback wasn’t honest. I was straightforward. I told them that they must have their plans written down, that they had to answer some basic questions. When would they launch the website? When would they start to approach other businesses? To their credit, they took these tough questions in great stride. I introduced these eager entrepreneurs to a group I had worked with on Monday, the second day of this week-long experience. Monday’s group shared their plan with Tuesday’s, and my latest mentees seemed grateful.

The next group on Tuesday was tackling the issue of Cairo traffic. They have created an app using the power of crowdsourcing for sharing traffic information—people log in and share road conditions. I was surprised when they said they already had 50,000 registered users, 10 percent of whom had joined within the first day. I was amazed at their success, but also shocked that they had tucked this information away deep into their presentation. When pitching investors, I told them, the juiciest information had to come first. They understood, and immediately starting moving information around.

Lunch followed the mentoring sessions, and the delegates were divided up to lead the next sessions. Scott Gerber, founder of The Young Entrepreneur Council, and I headed up the social media table. Scott explained how brand building is key to a strong business. I spoke about how social media was a terrific medium, but no substitute for a solid message. Their questions ranged from how to invest in Facebook advertising, to what it takes to build a following on Twitter. This was also my chance to ask the questions. How do these young entrepreneurs feel now that things have shifted after the revolution? Did they feel that entrepreneurship was a respected choice in Egypt? To the first, they answered that they finally felt like they had something to strive for. Their country was breathing, and for once they didn’t feel like the future was set in stone. To the latter, they explained that entrepreneurship in Egypt was still not as widely encouraged by schools. Kids went through the education system mostly to strive for technical and medical professions—noble, yet perceived to be safe. Then, I asked them the one question I felt would really tell me something. “Would you want to raise your kids in Egypt?” The majority raised their hands. One female entrepreneur said, “Before the revolution, no. After everything that has happened, yes. I feel that they will have choices.”

After lunch, we allowed six of the groups eight minutes each to pitch us on their ideas, to which we gave seven minutes of feedback. We were all closely timed, and the teams were as diverse as their ideas. We explained to the teams that we would be truly critiquing them, and not just giving them a pat on the back. I, personally, had come to realize that these were not fragile individuals who needed mere encouragement. These were savvy young entrepreneurs who needed serious feedback to make their dreams a reality. And, that’s exactly what we proceeded to do.

While some teams got right to the point, others were nervous. We worked with them all. Slowly prodding, critiquing, and giving them the best feedback we thought possible. During one particularly good presentation given by one young woman, I found her making the same nervous error that I made countless times. She rocked on her heels while she spoke. I got up, and showed her how to stand with her right foot planted at a 45-degree angle, her left foot staying straight. Almost a dancer’s pose, but it makes it harder to sway while speaking—which is all too easy to do in heels!

Tuesday evening over dinner, we were joined by some of Egypt’s prominent non-governmental organizations and a collection of venture capitalists. I asked one gentleman from Alexandria who runs a business accelerator on what he looks for in a business. He said: “We don’t just look at ideas. We look at the people behind them. The idea doesn’t have to be innovative. It has to be well executed. Innovation doesn’t mean being first. It means customizing to fit the audience.”

On Wednesday, the fun continues. We will be listening to more pitches, doling out more advice, oh… and dining with the Ambassador of Denmark.