Egyptian women entrepreneurs - Profiles of Success, March 2007

 Egyptian Women Entrepreneurs Profiles of Success March 2007 Acknowledgements The Small and Medium Enterprise Policy (SMEPol) Project would like to express appreciation to a
number of people and organizations that supported the concept behind this publication and assisted
with identifying the successful women entrepreneurs who are featured.
First of all, we thank members of the Donors SME Sub-group and Gender Sub-group who
enthusiastically responded to the proposal and agreed to make it part of their 2007 International
Women’s Day event to highlight women’s enterprise activity in Egypt. We extend appreciation to
members of the Discussion Forum on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Egypt who embraced the idea
and provided input, with special thanks to the National Council for Women’s Women Business
Development Center, the GTZ Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Programme, and the
Egyptian Business Women Association who provided information on potential profiles. We also
express gratitude to the Canadian International Development Agency and the International
Development Research Center, partners with the Ministry of Finance in the SMEPol Project, and to
the Ministry of Investment.
Lastly, we need to offer a special thanks to the 10 women who agreed to be profiled, willingly gave
of their valuable time for interviews with the SMEPol team, and went out of their way to provide us
with up-to-date information on their businesses, their successes, their challenges, and their plans for
the future. Without their cooperation, the dream of this publication would not have been realized.
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Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 4 Loula Zaklama, “Trail‐blazing” Entrepreneur ............................................................ 8 Azza Fahmy, “Inspired” Entrepreneur ...................................................................... 10 Randa Fahmy, “Innovative” Entrepreneur ................................................................ 12 Dr. Amany Asfour, “Empowered” Entrepreneur..................................................... 14 Thouraya Helmy, “Incremental” Entrepreneur ........................................................ 16 Neveen El Tahri, ʺInvesting” Entrepreneur ............................................................... 18 Randa Ibrahim Abdou, “Professional” Entrepreneur .............................................. 20 Azza El Mahdy, “Flowering” Entrepreneur .............................................................. 22 Dr. Amira Boshra, “Scientific” Entrepreneur ............................................................ 24 Heba El Shenawey, “Fast‐tracking” Entrepreneur ................................................... 26 3
likely to be exporting. In addition, they have less
access to formal technical, business management,
and
entrepreneurial
training,
business
development services (BDS), and finance, coupled
with a lower average level of education and higher
illiteracy rate than men. So from a business growth
perspective, Egyptian women MSEs are also at a
disadvantage.
Introduction According to 2006 Egyptian Labor Force Survey
statistics, there are some 630,000 woman-owned
micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Egypt. An
impressive number in absolute terms! But not so
impressive when compared to the number of
male-owned MSEs. Of the total MSE population,
women make up less than 17 percent. This means
that men outnumber women by a ratio of more
than 5 to 1. In most countries around the world
where such data is available, the average
proportion is closer to 2 to 1, suggesting there is
potential in Egypt for a higher number of women
entrepreneurs.
Egypt is a nation of very small enterprises. In the
MSE sector, only three percent of male-owned
enterprises have over 10 employees; for womenowned enterprises, it is less than one percent. But
this means that close to 60,000 of the 630,000
women-owned MSEs are in the small enterprise
category (with between 10 and 49 employees)!
With respect to women’s entrepreneurship in
Egypt, there appear to be two major challenges.
The first is to create a cultural, social, and
economic environment that is more favorable to
the emergence of women as entrepreneurs, and
the second is to ensure that women who already
have their own enterprises have adequate access to
the resources and supports needed for
sustainability and growth, that is, financing,
technical and business management training,
information, BDS, business networks, and
technology. Without addressing these challenges,
the Egyptian economy will not be able to benefit
from the latent and untapped economic and
entrepreneurial potential of the half of its
population represented by women!
Of course, one of the factors influencing the
level of women’s entrepreneurial activity is the low
participation rate of women in the workforce,
which is lower in Egypt than in most non-Arab
countries. In addition, many of the women who
are in the workforce are employed in the public
sector. In Egypt’s private sector, only 15 percent
of workers are women.
Not being in the workforce at all means that
women do not have much opportunity to gain
business skills and experience or to be exposed to
ideas for developing products and services to fill
unmet needs or gaps in the marketplace. And
international research on the background of
entrepreneurs reveals that public sector
employment does not provide a very strong
incubation
environment
for
emerging
entrepreneurs compared to employment in the
private sector, especially, employment in small or
medium enterprises. Therefore, “entrepreneurially
speaking” Egyptian women are at a disadvantage.
There are a number of efforts in Egypt to
improve the socio-economic environment for
women, including for women entrepreneurs. The
National Council for Women (NCW) has the
Government of Egypt mandate to advance the
status of Egyptian women by enhancing their
social, economic and political status. The Women
Business Development Center (WBDC), operated
under the auspices of the NCW, offers technical,
financial, and legal counseling to women at
various stages of business development and
growth, including administrative, research and
marketing support to women seeking to start a
business. The Social Fund for Development
(SFD), a major government body to support MSE
development, has developed a strategy designed to
enable and support the capacity of women
entrepreneurs to benefit from loans and facilities
Findings from a comprehensive survey of the
MSE sector carried out in 2002 and 2003 by the
Economic Research Forum (ERF) suggests that,
compared to male-owned MSEs in Egypt,
women’s enterprises are started with a
considerably lower level of capitalization; are more
highly concentrated in the trade sector (where
barriers to entry are low); more likely to have only
one worker; more likely to have outside
establishments in the informal sector; and less
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offered by the Small Enterprise Development
Organization (SEDO) and also places special
emphasis on female-headed households and
women’s employment.
Randa Fahmy each separately started their own
businesses in the late 1970s; Dr. Amany Asfour in
the 1980s; and Randa Ibrahim Abdou, Dr. Amira
Boshra, Azza El Mahdy, Neveen El Tahri and
Thouraya Helmy in the 1990s; and Heba El
Shenawey in 2000.
Many of the donors in Egypt stress the
importance of gender mainstreaming and often set
quantitative targets in their micro, small and
medium enterprise support projects for the
reaching of women as beneficiaries.
These 10 women entrepreneurs currently own a
total of 13 businesses, and for half of them it is
not their first or only business. Their time as
entrepreneurs ranges from seven years to 45 years.
Three of them have been in business for less than
10 years, four of them for 10-20 years and three of
them for more than 20 years. The average age of
their current businesses is about 14 years, ranging
from 5 to 29 years.
There are at least 22 businesswomen
associations (BWAs) in the country offering
networking, training, and other supports to the
women entrepreneurs who are their members,
although for the most part they reach only a small
number of women in MSEs and have limited
resources and capacity. These BWAs do play an
important
role
in
promoting
women’s
entrepreneurial activity and raising awareness of
the needs and concerns of women in business in
their communities.
Collectively, these 10 women create jobs for
over 700 workers. Individually, they employ
between 8 and 212 people. And they generate
sales revenues in excess of LE 150 million a year.
About 60 percent of them are involved in some
degree of exporting their products/services to
other countries, and several are importers. Nonexporters have ambitious future plans to expand
into other parts of the Arab Region and Europe.
However, it has to be said that women in Egypt
face any number of cultural, social, familial,
economic and regulatory barriers and resource
constraints that inhibit their more active
participation in entrepreneurial activity.
They own businesses in a diversity of sectors.
Half of them have factories where they produce
jewellery, cosmetics and detergents, metalworks,
embroidered linens and ready made garments.
Three have retail operations, three are in services
(financial services, marketing consultancy,
advertising and public relations), one is in medical
equipment distribution, and one has a greenhouse
operation where she grows rare collections of
flowers.
Promotion and awareness-raising are among the
most critical elements in changing the
environment for women’s entrepreneurial activity.
This is true in any country, as it is for Egypt. It
involves creating heightened public awareness of
the role of women in entrepreneurial activity and
the contribution they make to the economy and to
society in general, and promotion of
entrepreneurship as a viable and feasible
employment opportunity for women.
An
important vehicle for creating this awareness is the
profiling of successful women entrepreneurs who
can serve, not only as credible role-models for
other women, but also to challenge some of the
myths and widespread misperceptions regarding
women’s capabilities as economic generators.
We did not make education level one of the
criteria in selecting the women for these profiles,
but it just so happens that they all have at least
one university degree and half of them have
advanced degrees. Given the statistics on Egyptian
women who own MSEs, not the typical level of
education! In most cases their education relates to
the type of business they started. In others, such
as the case with Azza El Mahdy, whose degree in
literature and American drama has little to do with
greenhouses and flower growing, their education
is unrelated to the type of business they are in.
“Egyptian Women Entrepreneurs: Profiles of
Success” is just such an instrument! In this
publication we have brought together the profiles
of 10 Egyptian women entrepreneurs who
represent five decades of entrepreneurial history.
Loula Zaklama started in business in 1962, long
before private sector business activity was widely
accepted in the country; sisters Azza Fahmy and
In terms of previous working experiences, four
of them got involved in their own businesses at a
young age – so basically, they have always been
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entrepreneurs. Another four had careers that
lasted at least 10 years or more in the private
sector, some of them in multinational companies
where they gained a lot of product knowledge and,
in some cases, management experience that served
them well once in their own businesses. Five of
them started businesses related to their previous
experience and three of them started businesses
that were completely unrelated to their education
or work experience.
the first marketing consultancy by practitioners
(Randa Ibrahim Adbou), the first Egyptian gallery
dedicated to traditional handicrafts of a high
standard (the Fahmy’s). In other words, many of
them have broken new ground. In addition, many
of them have achieved personal firsts. Neveen El
Tahri was the first women to serve on the Board
of the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges,
Loula Zaklama was the first person from the
Middle East to be President of the International
Public Relations Association, Azza Fahmy was the
first woman to train as an apprentice under
masters in Cairo’s Jewellery Quarter, Azza El
Mahdy is the only women in the Flower Growers
Council of the HEIA, and so on.
They differed in their motivations for becoming
an entrepreneur. One group of these women
started a business because they had no choice – it
was a matter of economic necessity and survival.
For a second group, it was more of a fortuitous
accident that led to a hobby becoming a business.
For a third group, it was opportunity driven – they
started businesses to pursue an opportunity, either
to fill a market need or fulfill a creative passion.
But they are all very similar in their motivations
now – to grow, to achieve, and to be more
successful in an expanded marketplace.
Most of them are also making significant
contributions to their professions, to their
communities, or to the advancement of social and
economic causes. Loula Zaklama has dedicated
herself to advancing the public relations industry
in Egypt; Dr. Amany Asfour co-founded the
African Society of Scientific Research and
Technology to encourage investment in scientific
research and technology to improve value-added
and productivity in all sectors of Egyptian society;
and Neveen El Tahri started the Egyptian Capital
Markets Association, as examples.
These women entrepreneurs share a number of
other features in common. First of all, they all
started as very small enterprises, several of them
from a home base, most with no more than two
workers, if that. They have all grown, some more
gradually than others. As described in their words,
it wasn’t easy for any of them. They had
difficulties with financing, business registration
and licensing processes, customs procedures,
building permits, the high costs of importing,
finding specialized information and expertise
related to their businesses, and for some of the
women, with achieving the right balance between
managing the business and their parenting role.
The Fahmy’s run a training center to teach other
women in traditional crafts, which provides them
with skills and employment opportunities.
Thouraya Helmy of Silk in Silk offers co-operative
training to 12 students a year from the MubarakKohl Project with a similar goal, and Dr. Amany
Asfour started the Egyptian Business Women
Association (EBWA) because she wanted to help
young women start businesses and to encourage
all women to become more economically
empowered as a way of improving their
circumstances.
Some of them took in partners; others sought
help from the WBDC, obtained loans from the
SFD, and/or immersed themselves in learning by
taking courses and participating in international
fairs and exhibitions. They all cited the importance
of determination, persistence, patience, family
support and good old-fashioned hard work in
overcoming obstacles and achieving success.
These woman-owned enterprises are also
incubation environments for other women. In
Heba El Shenawey’s enterprise, Femina for Ready
Made Garments, all of the managers are women
and Heba takes great pride in the fact that her
business gives young women the opportunity to
work in the private sector where they can learn
responsibility and gain experience. Azza El
Mahdy, Audriana Flowers, also gains much
satisfaction from seeing her workers gain
knowledge in flower growing that they can then
They are all innovators and leaders in their field.
Women like Azza and Randa Fahmy have
achieved international acclaim for their creative
innovativeness. For many, the business they
started was the first of its kind in the country – the
first private advertising agency (Loula Zaklama),
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They have been courageous, committed and
caring. They are innovative, bold, and empowered.
And they are women entrepreneurs who are
making a significant contribution to the economic
and social betterment of Egyptians and to the
country’s future prosperity.
later apply in their own gardening operations.
Many of these activities are having an impact on
the poverty alleviation of marginalized groups,
particularly women and youth, by providing them
with training and employment.
They stress consistent themes in their advice to
other women who want to start businesses: start a
business you love and love what you do; learn,
study, train, and keep learning; don’t
underestimate your ideas; work hard; do things
right from the beginning because it’s the
foundation for growth; be persistent and patient;
and as Loula Zaklama advises, “never give up –
even when you’re down, never give up.”
We hope that these profiles will serve to be an
inspiration to all existing and potential women
entrepreneurs. We also hope they serve to
challenge any prevailing public misperceptions
about the potential of Egyptian women to be
significant contributors to the economic growth
and prosperity of Egypt.
The women are presented to you based on the
year in which they started their first business,
beginning with the “trail-blazing” 1960s
entrepreneur, Loula Zaklama, RadaResearch &
Public Relations and ending with the “fasttracking” entrepreneur of the 2000s, Heba El
Shenawey, Femina for Ready Made Garments.
The 10 profiled women entrepreneurs do not
perhaps reflect the “typical statistical profile” of
an Egyptian MSE, but they do represent a few
thousand of the women who have more than 10
employees and who have potential to grow their
enterprises. In that sense, they are only illustrative
of the many equally and wonderfully inspiring
examples of women’s entrepreneurship in Egypt.
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“I had no idea what the business was about. So I
took some advertising courses at the university.
My mother and mother-in-law took care of the
children. At the time, I was too busy studying,
struggling and running like mad to find and keep
my few clients.”
Loula Zaklama, “Trail‐blazing” Entrepreneur Loula Zaklama, the
President
and
Managing Director
of RadaResearch &
Public Relations in
Cairo, is one of the
top 50 women
entrepreneurs in the
world!
So
said
Fortune Magazine
in 1998. And in
2006,
she
was
selected by Forbes
Magazine as one the 50 leading Arab
businesswomen in the Middle East! These are
outstanding recognitions for an Assiut-born
woman who, 45 years ago, was the first in her
entire family to work and have a career. “No
woman in my family ever worked before. My
family did not even know any women who
worked.”
Not only was her business the first privately
owned advertising company in the country, but
she herself was breaking ground as one of the first
women entrepreneurs in Egypt in the 1960s!
“Everything was against me – especially the
socialist regime. I was defying the system because
I was in the private sector at a time when only
people working for the government were able to
survive…I was fighting not against another
company, but against power.” Attracting business
was difficult. “Back then, Egypt was a completely
state-run economy where contracting to private
firms was not allowed.”
During these early years, Loula had a secretary
and a couple of staff and that was it. She managed
to survive on a few very small accounts from
Proctor & Gamble (until they were nationalized in
1967) and other international companies who
needed advertising campaigns when they entered
the Egyptian market after initiation of the OpenDoor Policy in the late 1970s.
In the 1960s, when Loula started in business, the
word “businesswoman” was unfamiliar to
Egyptian ears. “Women doctors, lawyers, and
professors, yes”, exclaims Loula, “but never
businesswomen. Money and business were the
exclusive property of men back then.” Not that
she ever planned to have her own business!
Business: RadaResearch & Public Relations
Public relations and marketing research firm
Year started: 1962, 1982
Location: 1 Mostafa El-Wakil St., Heliopolis
Employees: 45
Turnover: LE 8.8 million (US$1.5 million)
Ph: (20) 2 2917 956
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.radaresearch.com
Affiliations: World President of the
International Public Relations Association
(IPRA), 2006
Member of the Board of the American Chamber
of Commerce in Egypt; the International
Advertising Association (IAA) in Egypt and
New York; and the European Society of
Marketing Research
Like many Egyptian women at the time, Loula
married young. By the age of 19, she already had
two children. Her husband was working at
EgyptAir and Loula was taking care of the babies
and studying at the university (where she
eventually
earned
a
degree
in
Mass
Communications). In 1961, her husband started a
small private advertising agency as a part-time
activity to earn extra income. The following year,
he was arrested and detained. Loula, left alone to
provide for herself and her children, decided she
would have to try to run her husband’s nascent
business in order to survive. The year was 1962.
Her business was Radar Advertising Agency,
where she had the big title of President and
Managing Director, but a very, very small
business!
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In fact, the Open-Door Policy changed things
for Loula’s tiny enterprise and paved the way for
her shift into marketing research and public
relations. “The Infitah meant that a lot of
products were being manufactured in Egypt.
Consumers faced a lot of new choices. The only
way for multinational companies operating in
Egypt to market their products was to better
understand consumers’ needs. And so, in 1982, I
started RadaResearch & Public Relations to
respond to this need I saw.”
Today, RadaResearch & Public Relations is one
of Egypt’s leading companies. It has 45 employees
and in 2006 generated LE 8.8 million in turnover
(about US$1.5 million). The company conducts
market research, coordinates media relations, and
designs communications campaigns. And some of
its major accounts are with the government!
Loula’s company prepared the Investment
Promotion Campaign for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and is currently a consultant to the
Ministry of Investment to create greater public
awareness of privatization and to promote foreign
direct investment. She has lent a hand in reviving
tourism through a public relations campaign called
“Embrace Egypt” that was launched at the
initiative of the private tourism industry and she
continues to be a strong advocate for the future
prosperity of the country.
Over the years, Loula has also worked tirelessly
to develop and improve the public relations
industry in Egypt and was instrumental in
introducing
the International
Advertising
Association (IAA) course to the American
University in Cairo.
In 2006, she was elected President of the
International Public Relations Association (IPRA),
the first person from the Middle East to serve in
this position. IPRA is present in 90 countries.
Her pioneering efforts have also left a legacy on
the role of women in work in her own family.
Although she has some regrets for having missed
out on parts of her daughters’ growing up
experiences, they both now work with her in the
business, as do two of her granddaughters.
She offers the following advice to other women
wanting to start a business. “You will have to
learn, study, train and work hard. The first step to
failure is to say ‘I do not need to learn, I know it
all, and I have done it all’. Never give up. Even
when you’re down, never give up!”
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In the mid-1970s, she started with a small
workshop, but had big dreams and lots of
ambition. Her vision was to have her jewellery
find its way to all parts of the world. Early on, she
set a goal to export 80 percent of her designs
outside of Egypt. However, growth came slowly.
She discovered that it wasn’t that easy to build
international recognition for an Egyptian brand.
And that, coupled with financial constraints and
the demands of being a mother, an artist, and a
businesswoman, meant that she could only take
small steps at a time. However, her reputation for
creative and beautiful jewellery pieces gradually
started to take root. “My passion, the talent I
have, my creativity and my stamina were the major
forces that drove me forward.”
Azza Fahmy, “Inspired” Entrepreneur Azza Fahmy is
recognized as the
leading designer of
fine jewellery in the
Middle East due to
both her innovative
designs and intricate
craftsmanship.
In
1969, she was the
first women in
Egypt ever to be
permitted to train as
an apprentice under
the masters of Cairo’s Jewellery Quarter,
historically an exclusively male domain. It was
there that she learned ancient jewellery-making
techniques. Now, as CEO of Azza Fahmy
Jewellery, she is also considered one of Egypt’s
finest women entrepreneurs.
In 1981, she opened her first gallery, Al Ain
Gallery, with two partners, her sister Randa
Fahmy, a metalworker, and her then husband, the
architect Nabil Ghali. This was the first gallery in
Egypt to exhibit and sell traditional handicrafts of
a high quality standard and to serve as an outlet
for the work of the three artists.
Azza now has a large Cairo-based factory
employing over 180 workers who manufacture
and market Azza Fahmy designs, five stores in
Cairo and locations in Bahrain, Jordan, Dubai, and
London. The business is a significant importer of
precious and semi-precious stones and semimanufactured goods and a major buyer of gold.
As such, her company has to cope regularly with
customs procedures and inventory management.
Azza was born in the southern governorate of
Sohaj, Egypt. She studied Fine Arts at Helwan
University, specializing in interior design. After
graduating, she apprenticed with a master gold
and silversmith at the Khan El Khalil and later
won a fellowship to study modern techniques in
jewellery design and manufacturing in London.
Azza also had a passion for poetry and
philosophy and a fascination with Arabic and
Islamic heritage. She was able to combine this
passion with the techniques she had learned in
Cairo and London to begin shaping her signature
jewellery collections, a unique mix of silver and
gold, hand-picked stones and calligraphic
inscriptions that are now worn by jewellery
connoisseurs, royalty and celebrities worldwide.
Not bad for a women who started with a small
workshop and two workers back in the 1970s!
Business: Azza Fahmy Jewellery
Produces crafted jewellery in silver, gold,
precious and semi-precious stones and reflecting
Arabic and Islamic traditions and periods
Year started: Mid-1970s
Location: Office: 73 El Hussein St., Dokki
Factory: 6th of October City Industrial Zone
Employees: 180 +
Ph: (20) 2 8327 294
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.azzafahmy.com
Affiliations: Co-owner, Al Ain Gallery, Cairo
Judge, Gold Virtuosi, International Jewellery
Design Awards
Her first exhibition in 1974 launched her career.
She has since held more than 200 exhibitions
around the world. “Everything inspires me, the
birds, the flowers, and the motifs in a house or a
piece of proverb.” Inscriptions of wise sayings and
motifs have became a feature of her work, a way
of conveying to the world a message of beauty
and the traditions of the Arab world.
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One of Azza’s most pressing challenges has
been finding skilled labor, a constraint she has
overcome by providing her workers with extensive
training. They are now among the best.
Her Signature collections comprise: the Culture
Line - a mix of sterling silver and 18 carat gold
with semi-precious stones with a focus on intricate
hand crafted filigree work and decorative
calligraphy, including
rings for men; the
Exclusive Line limited editions of
18
carat
gold,
featuring gemstones,
such as diamonds,
turquoise,
garnet,
blue topaz, peridot,
amethyst, emeralds and rubies: and the Fashion
Line - artistic and innovative use of silver with
intricate designs and semi-precious stones. The
company also offers a bespoke service.
As for the future, Azza Fahmy Jewellery is still a
family enterprise and Azza plans to maintain
family control over the manufacturing side of the
business to ensure design quality, but she has
aggressive plans to expand the retail side of the
business and is considering how best to approach
this. Regional expansion of franchised outlets is a
strong possibility and the company is looking for
investors from target countries to act as local
partners.
Besides designing her collection jewellery lines,
Azza also designs costumes and jewellery for
theatrical productions and movies. She juries the
International Jewellery Design Awards and in the
fall of 2006 saw the launch of her book,
“Enchanted Jewellery of Egypt: The Traditional
Art & Craft”, published by the American
University in Cairo Press.
Her advice for other women who want to have
their own business? “First of all,” says Azza,
“choose a business you love and have a passion
for it. Otherwise, when you run into difficulties,
you may want to give up. Second, everyday there
will be something different, so be serious and
always willing to learn.”
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“During that time in Egypt’s history, there were
no institutions to help finance small businesses.
There was nothing at all entrepreneurial about the
Egyptian economy. So I wasn’t thinking about
some kind of big business. I was simply looking
for a way to support myself as an artist in Egypt
under those circumstances. But because the cost
of living was low, wages were low and rents were
low, I was able to start a business without any
capital to think of.” Through her perseverance
and creativity, Randa became the first
contemporary designer in Islamic metalwork to
master the traditional canons of the craft and to
recreate the proportions and detail that brought
Islamic metalwork into its glory.
Randa Fahmy, “Innovative” Entrepreneur Randa Fahmy, of
Randy
Fahmy
Design & Manufacturing, was born in
the governorate of
Sohaj in southern
Egypt. It was never
her intention to be
in business, but she
now owns three
companies and is
considered
the
world’s most preeminent designer of architectural finishings in the
Islamic tradition.
Her sister, Azza Fahmy, was also at the time
trying to establish herself as an artist in the Islamic
tradition – as a jeweller. “My mother supported
both me and my sister at a time when women
were not encouraged to have careers. My sister,
Azza, has always been my inspiration. She led the
way and made it easier for me to get started.”
She graduated from the School of Art at Helwan
University in Zamalek in 1975. After finishing her
formal studies, Randa began as an artist. “I was
first deeply inspired by the great Egyptian painter,
Hasan Soliman, who opened my eyes to our
traditions and passed on his prodigious discipline
that has served me well over the last 30 years.”
But to be a painter, she would need to do
something else part-time to support herself. She
found that thing in traditional Islamic metalwork.
In 1981, she was
a partner with
Azza and Azza’s
husband in the
opening of the Al
Ain Gallery in
Cairo. The gallery became an early retail outlet for
her lanterns and innovative lighting designs. In
1982, she expanded her own workshop into the
largest metalsmithing workshop in Egypt. Her
business has grown organically, but by her own
admission, without any real planning, sound
management or business strategy.
Not that she ever imagined herself as a
businesswoman. “The last thing I wanted to do
was end up working in an office for someone else.
The fact that I have a successful business is a byproduct of my creativity. I set out to make a living
from doing something creative, something I
loved.”
Businesses: Randa Fahmy Design &
Manufacturing; Randa Fahmy & Associates
Design Consultants
Architectural finishings in metal, ceramics,
wood, marble and stone; interior design
consultancy
Years started: 1978, 1999
Location: 22, Ibrahim Ramadan St., Boulak El
Dakrour; Factory in 6th of October Industrial
City, P61
Employees: 60-70
Ph: (20) 2 3274 303
Website: www.randafahmy.com
Affiliations: Co-owner, Al Ain Gallery
While apprenticing with metalsmiths at the
Khan El Khalili bazaar, and learning everything
she could about Islamic metalwork, she started to
design and make her own lanterns, hiring an old
metalworker from Shobra to fabricate the pieces
to her precise specifications and quality. When she
held her first exhibition in 1978, she was working
from a small atelier, but after the great response to
her beautiful lighting designs from designers and
architects from all over the Middle East, she
began to see the market opportunity to develop
her craft into a viable business. She was ready to
establish her small but hopeful Randa Fahmy
Metalwork into just that!
12
“At one point, I
didn’t even know
how much money I
was
making
–
whether I was in a
profit or a loss.” But
in the mid-1990s,
when the demand
for her products
started to skyrocket,
she realized she had
to change. “I hadn’t
really noticed how
much of the burden of the business I’d taken on
myself. I created all the designs, did all the
business development, handled all the client
relations, worked out all the costs, liaised with
architects and contractors, managed the
production, and supervised installation singlehandedly!”
large scale projects “without killing myself”. “We
are financing the factory ourselves, and when it
opens we will be able work in a wide range of
materials, brass, copper, aluminium, tin, iron,
ceramics, crystal, alabaster, marble, wood, even
textiles. We will be a one-stop shop for quality
architectural finishings.”
She still has many
projects in Egypt,
but is currently
working on projects
in Saudi Arabia,
Oman, the UAE,
Palestine, Bahrain,
Qatar and Kuwait,
as well as the United
States. “I never have
to solicit work. I’ve
built up a reservoir
of completely unique
knowledge in the
field. By the time someone imitates me, I’ve long
since developed something far more complex,
more subtle, more innovative and more beautiful.
In that sense I don’t really have competitors.”
Painfully aware of the deficiencies in her
operations, she undertook an evaluation of her
operating procedures and reorganized her systems.
“The hardest transition is to change from a microenterprise, driven by a single individual, to a larger
organization that has departments and various
functions to handle bigger projects.”
What advice would she give to other women
wanting to start a business? “First of all, you have
to love what you do. The path to success is full of
‘ups and downs’. You won’t be able to sustain the
effort unless you truly love your work. It should
never be solely about the money. It should be
about the quest for excellence. Success and profit
will follow.”
Her biggest challenge? Finding the right people
to take over management responsibilities! For
this, she has depended a great deal on family
members and quickly admits that her brother Ali,
who heads up her operations, is the backbone of
her business. Her husband, a successful writer,
business communicator and entrepreneur himself,
has helped her to build her “brand” through the
creation of key strategic materials that better
communicated the value of her work. “And, of
course, I’m inspired to keep going because of my
beautiful, intelligent and talented daughter. I’m
doing this for her.”
She also offers advice to women who want to
grow their enterprises. “Growing your business is
part of the nature of entrepreneurship. Women
who want to succeed need to seek out the best
possible advice to develop and manage the
transition from a micro-enterprise without losing
the heart and soul of the enterprise.”
In 1999, she established Randa Fahmy &
Associates Design Consultants which is an interior
design consultancy serving the Middle East. Today
her companies employ 60-70 workers, nearly half
of whom are women. And, together, with Azza,
they train many other women in traditional crafts.
And finally she stresses, “If you are a woman
entrepreneur in the Arab world, you have to
develop a thick skin. I’ve been lucky because I had
the total and unconditional support of my family,
but this is not always the case, and if it isn’t, you
really have to hold to a deep commitment to what
you’re doing. You have to have a realistic vision of
what you can achieve, and the good sense to seek
out the right advice to allow you to reach your
goals.”
As for the future, Randa has a new factory under
construction in the 6th October Industrial City. It
will have a serial production line and advanced
laser and water-jet technologies so she can handle
13
proceeded to try to get market rights to a product
line of medical equipment.
Dr. Amany Asfour, “Empowered” Entrepreneur “I got an appointment with the head of Siemens,
went to Germany to meet with him, and sold him
on the idea of giving me, this young woman
Egyptian doctor, distribution rights for their
products in the Egyptian market. I had the will, I
had the education, and if you don’t ask, you’ll
never have the opportunity to be told ‘no’. You
have to ask.”
For all of Amany
Asfour’s entrepreneurial
attributes,
this Founder of
Cairo Scientific Corporation, grew up in
a completely nonbusiness family. But
she does credit her
parents, who were
both university professors, with having
empowered her at a
young age to make her own decisions. Amany
graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo
University with a Masters degree and an MD in
Paediatrics, something she had wanted to do since
she was a little girl. It was the humanity of the
profession that compelled her most.
Of course she had to have a business plan to
close the deal, but sought the help she needed in
putting this together and in 1998 started Cairo
Scientific Corporation as a share-holding
company, soliciting equity investments from a
group of partners, primarily family members and
friends. To finance working capital she obtained a
line of credit from one of Egypt’s banks. She also
had to negotiate credit facilities for customers
buying her equipment, which she did through her
suppliers and the bank.
Cairo Scientific Corporation now has 46
employees, turnover of LE 35 million and handles
40 different brands of medical equipment and
supplies, including ultrasound machines and
diagnostic units. Siemens is still the biggest part of
the business.
It was in third year of medical school that she
started her first business quite by accident. She
was asked by one of her professors to help him
professionally organize a medical conference. It
wasn’t long before she saw an opportunity to
organize conferences for medical professionals as
a business. So in 1984, as a young medical student,
Amany
boldly
and
confidently
started
International Medical Conferences, the first
company in Egypt, Africa and the Arab world
with this specialty.
Business: Cairo Scientific Corporation.
Medical equipment and supplies company
marketing to hospitals, health care facilities,
medical professionals and universities in Egypt
and the Middle East
Year started: 1998
Location: 11 Syria St. Mohandessin, Cairo
Employees: 46
Turnover: LE 35 million
Ph : (20) 2 3458 450
Email : [email protected]
Website: www.cairoscientific.net
Affiliations: Founder and President of the
Egyptian Business Women Association (EBWA)
Co-founder and Secretary General, African
Society of Scientific Research and Technology
Africa Coordinator for the International
Federation of Business and Professional Women
Member, National Research Center of Egypt
“I had no experience in business and only 5000
Egyptian pounds to get things started!” She
approached the Egyptian Society of Young
Doctors, of which she was a member, and asked
them for a small office space. She lost LE 600 on
her first conference but gained a lot of experience
and learned useful lessons.
From all the medical conferences she went on to
organize, under the operating name Congress
Service Center, she learned that Egypt was starting
to encourage private sector companies, so she
asked herself “why don’t I start a medical supply
company?” She did some research, identified the
biggest medical equipment supply companies in
the world, of which Siemens was one, and
14
The company has a
Board of Directors
and an Executive
Manager who now
takes care of daily
operations. Amany’s
husband, although
being very busy with
a medical practice and related professional
activities, including being a professor of Urology,
also plays a leadership role in the business.
Since networking is crucial for anyone who
wants to work at regional and international levels,
she has joined many organizations focused on the
empowerment of women and participates actively
in these forums in Africa, Arab countries, the
Mediterranean region and beyond.
Among her many affiliations, Amany is also
President of the African Alliance for Women
Empowerment, President of the Afro-Arab
Network for Women Empowerment, President of
the Organization for Women in Trade in Egypt,
President of the Business and Professional
Women – Egypt, and a member of the NEPAD
Gender Task Force responsible for Trade and
Market Access. She also sits on the Board of the
Egyptian Society of Voice for Mentally Retarded
Children and helps raise funds to establish a
special village to serve these children’s needs.
Together, in 2004, they formed the African
Society of Scientific Research and Technology
(ASSRT) where Amany serves as the SecretaryGeneral. The goal of ASSRT is to promote
investment in scientific research and technology to
improve value-added and productivity in all
sectors of Egyptian society. The aim is to foster a
more favourable environment for R&D investing,
not only in Egypt, but in all of Africa.
In
1995,
Amany
started the Egyptian
Women
Business
Association (EBWA),
much to the scepticism
of traditional, male
dominated
business
associations that did
not understand why
she felt the need for
such a thing. But as
Amany explains, “I felt
it was important to promote the younger
generation of women entrepreneurs and to give
guidance to women who owned small and
medium enterprises so they could be more
empowered.”
Although she admits it is often a challenge, she
has been able to balance her many roles as mother
of three children, entrepreneur, advocate of
women’s economic empowerment, promoter of
science and technology, and leader of a
businesswomen association. “It takes a strong
support system which I have had to put in place,”
she states.
The EWBA has 100 members, all women who
have achieved some success in their own
businesses and are in a position to help the
women entrepreneurs who are coming up behind
them. The association also supports the
mainstreaming of gender in the global market. The
slogan of the EBWA is “Financial independence
gives you the power of choice and voice”. And
that pretty much sums up Amany Asfour’s very
strong view.
Her advice to other women who want to have
their own businesses? “First” she says, “education
is a must, patience, dedication and to me,
believing in God. And second, you have to
assume the power to achieve, to act and to
implement.”
15
towels, she needed financing and was successful in
obtaining a small loan from the Social Fund for
Development (SFD). With this she was able to
purchase better equipment and improve her
production quality.
Thouraya Helmy, “Incremental” Entrepreneur Thouraya Helmy,
owner of Silk in Silk,
never planned have
a business of her
own. Quite frankly,
the thought hadn’t
even crossed her
mind when she was
younger. After she
graduated with her
Bachelor of Science
degree, she worked
as an accountant in
a private sector wireless communications firm for
awhile and after she had children left the
workforce to stay at home.
Eventually
the
demand for her
products grew to
the point where she
needed a proper
production facility.
She took another
SFD loan and after
lots of planning was
able to open her
new factory in the
6th of October City
in 2000.
Along the way, she faced many challenges:
limited financial resources, complex government
procedures for licensing, and a banking system
that was not that interested in dealing with small
enterprises on their terms. She stresses how
important persistence and her willingness to face
challenges were in helping to overcome any
difficulties. “I kept my eye on the vision I had, of
what I was trying to achieve. And I had the
emotional support of my family and my husband
behind me.”
Her entrepreneurial journey started quite by
accident. One day, a friend of hers dropped by
and noticed some simple home products that
Thouraya had made - clothes clips and shoes
hangers - and asked if she would make some more
that she could take as gifts to people she was
going to visit in Canada. Her friend liked the gifts
and encouraged Thouraya to make more that she
could try to sell at an upcoming fair being held at
a local sporting club.
But this budding entrepreneur also had other
assistance – the loans from the SFD, workshops
organized by the Women Business Development
Centre (WBDC) that she attended, and
opportunities to participate in international fairs,
particularly the specialized fairs facilitated by the
Industrial Modernization Center (IMC).
Thouraya rented half a table at the fair (for LE
16) and, although nothing on her table had a price
tag of more than LE 16 per item, she took orders
worth LE 700!! Encouraged by this, she
participated in another fair where she had the
good fortune to meet the then Minister of Social
Affairs who invited her to join the “productive
families” project.
Business: Silk in Silk
Manufacturer of intricately embroidered linens,
bed sheets, towels and bath robes
Year started: 1992
Location: 44 El Batal Ahmed Abd Aziz St.,
Mohandessin (Head Office) and 6th of October
City (factory)
Employees: 28
Ph: (20) 2 7607 642; (20) 2 7610 776
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.tradeegypt.com/silkinsilk
So, in 1992, with LE 50 of her own money, she
started a tiny production unit in her house. Her
objective at first was just to make better use of her
time and to earn some extra money. She began
designing and drawing patterns for new product
styles, scrimping wherever she could by buying
remnants of cloth from tailors to save on costs.
She grew bit by bit. She hired one worker to help
her and then another. Eventually, she had to take
over another room in her mother-in-law’s place.
As she gradually expanded her product line to
include embroidered bed sheets, pillowcases and
16
“The learning I gained from these international
exhibitions was invaluable.” The WBDC also
assisted her in developing her website on
www.cleostore.com, giving her business and her
products much more exposure.
Silk in Silk in now a thriving business with 28
employees, more than three times the number it
had in 2000. Sixty percent of the workers are
women, and the company offers training annually
to 12 students from the Mubarak-Kohl project.
Embroidered bed sheets and towels made from
Egyptian cotton have become the core part of Silk
in Silk’s business. Thouraya markets these
products through fairs and exhibitions,
networking, a brochure and a show room in her
Mohandessin office. Throughout the past years,
she has participated in many international fairs in
the United States, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
England and other countries. In 2004, Thouraya’s
business was chosen as among the most successful
of 330,000 competitors at a conference on
Arabian Women Entrepreneurs held in Dubai.
“One of the most important factors in the
success of my business so far,” Thouraya reflects,
“is the credibility I have with my clients. I have
worked hard to make sure that my products match
my clients’ needs and are of high quality. I never
stop learning from the feedback they give me and
I have built up a lot of trust. But perhaps even
more importantly, it’s been my own patience and
commitment. And the loyalty of my team!”
As for the future, Thouraya has plans to export
her products to international markets. To prepare
for this, she has recently purchased new
equipment that will professionalize both the
quality and packaging of her products so they are
more competitive in non-Egyptian markets. Silk in
Silk is about to obtain a certificate of “Quality
Products” from France. Another milestone that
will help bolster the company’s growth!
The advice she would give to other women who
want to start a business? “You have to have a
future vision. Don’t underestimate your ideas. Just
get started. Be persistent and face challenges. Stay
committed and build credibility.” A good recipe!
17
licenses in the country. The cost of a brokerage
license at that time was LE 250,000, of which she
had to pay 25 percent upfront.
Neveen El Tahri, ʺInvesting” Entrepreneur In July 1994, with the counsel of her brother-inlaw, an auditor who helped with all the
documentation required, she started Delta
Stockbrokers as a shareholding company with her
father and her husband as partners. “I knew
nothing about the brokerage business but no one
else did either so we were all competing at the
same level.” Her most difficult challenge,
interesting enough to her, was not being taken
seriously by anyone in the industry!
After
a little more
than 12 years of
heading her own
business, Neveen El
Tahri, Chairperson
of Delta Securities
Egypt, was awarded
the
“Enterprising
Woman of the
Year” at the Global
Summit on Women
in Mexico City in
2005, where she was
also recognized for “Global Leadership”. This
followed her “Working Woman of the Year”
award presented in Washington in 2000.
As stock market investing increased in
popularity, more brokers entered the market and it
quickly became crowded. Neveen had learned a
little about the business on her own in the
beginning, but after five or six months, she
decided to bring in institutional partners, which
would require her astute negotiating skills and
more capital.
The daughter of a diplomat and the eldest of
three girls, she spent much of her childhood living
in places like Panama, Lebanon, Finland and
London as her father followed diplomatic
postings. Her family returned to Cairo when she
was 15 and Neveen graduated from the Faculty of
Economics and Political Science at Cairo
University in 1980.
“Even the bank where I worked for many years
would not take the risk. It was a dear colleague
who headed HSBC who decided to give me a
credit line with my family members as
guarantors.” With additional capitalization, she
was able to bring in her first foreign investor
orders.
Business: Delta Securities Egypt
Brokerage firm offering a range of brokerage,
bookkeeping and research services to select retail
clients as well as individual and institutional
investors
Year started: 1994
Location: 31 Geziret El Arab St., Mohandessin
Ph: (20) 2 3000 301
Employees: 80
Revenue: In excess of LE 50 million
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.delta-securities.com
Affiliations: Board member of the General
Authority for Investment (GAFI); the Egyptian
Arab Land Bank; and Telecom Egypt; Exmember of the Board of the Cairo and
Alexandria Stock Exchanges
Country Representative of ABN-AMRO Bank in
Egypt
From there, she started a banking career with
Chase National Bank; hired as a teller but quickly
promoted to credit officer, and by 1992, was
Assistant General Manager of Corporate Banking
in charge of petroleum, electronics and tourism
sectors. She resigned in mid-1992, deciding that
she literally did not want to work anymore. “So I
stayed home for a while, spending time with my
children, drying and setting flowers, doing pottery
and visiting my two younger sisters in Paris and
London.”
But as Neveen is quick to point out, “I am a
workaholic. I enjoy working. I enjoy accomplishing. I don’t have to do things. I like to do
things.” After a few months, she started doing
some consulting. Then a relative told her about
the new Capital Markets Law that had been passed
by the government to regulate Egypt’s capital
markets and suggested that she should apply for
one of the brokerage licenses. Capital markets
were close to Neveen’s banking experience and so
she applied for and received one of the first
18
Today, Delta Securities operates with two sister
companies, Delta Asset Management and Delta
Capital Investments, and has a total of 80
employees. A long way from the mere seven staff
she started with in 1994. Over half of her
employees are women. For the year ending in
2006, her total revenue was in excess of LE 50
million.
But she isn’t willing to stop there. “I want a full
investment bank that has a strong local presence,
with alliances in the Arab Region extending from
the Gulf to El Magreb.” To achieve this, she will
bring in the right management to create a holding
company for the three Delta companies and
expand her operations from there.
Over the 1996-97 period, the Egyptian
American Bank (EAB) and American Express
Bank (AEB) both invested in Delta. This increase
in capital had the effect of diluting Neveen’s
ownership share, but it also brought considerable
strength to her company, something she needed in
order to position herself competitively in the
industry.
On being a woman in a
male-dominated industry,
Neveen comments, “It’s
tough, because they underestimate your capabilities.
But at the same time, that
toughness is the reason I
likely succeeded. If they
underestimate you, then it
is quite easy to outsmart
everybody else around
you.” And succeed in a
male-dominated profession, she has! She is the
first woman to serve on the Board of the Cairo
and Alexandria Stock Exchanges! She also
founded the Egyptian Capital Markets
Association.
Her company’s relationship with these investors
lasted until 1999 when she convinced them to sell
their shares to Dutch Bank ABN-AMRO, an
investment bank with considerable experience in
global markets. With this strategic partner on side,
she established an asset management division to
manage individual and corporate portfolios of
Egyptian equities and put her company on a solid
professional basis to compete in the marketplace
with “proper systems and know-how”.
Neveen, like most entrepreneurs, has
experienced business “ups and downs”. When the
capital markets went into a slump in 2001, she had
to downsize considerably, laying off employees,
moving to smaller offices, and compensating for
her declining brokerage business by providing
advisory and financial consulting services. Late in
2002, ABN-AMRO decided to divest its Egypt
operations and Neveen bought back their shares.
Delta Securities was a family business again!
She advises women wanting to start a business,
“Be patient. But most importantly, put the right
capital structure in place with the right
shareholders, be sure of your strategy, and choose
your senior management very carefully.” And for
her final point, she adds, “In my experience,
women won’t achieve as much if support from
their husband is not there. Certainly part of my
own success is due to the fact that I have a very
supportive and understanding husband.”
Since then, she has reorganized the business –
increased its capital, hired more employees and
put more sophisticated management and financial
systems in place. “The market has forced me to
move from the boutique I wanted, to continue to
manage a large organization.”
19
As the potential to have her own company
became more real in her mind, she decided to take
the plunge, quit her job and started Marketing
Mix, “Egypt’s first private marketing consultancy
business created by a practitioner with
multinational marketing experience,” as she
describes it.
Randa Ibrahim Abdou, “Professional” Entrepreneur Randa
Ibrahim
Abdou,
Founder
and
CEO
of
Marketing Mix and
the co-founder of
Creative Lab, grew
up in Cairo, the
daughter
of
a
university professor
and writer, and a
stay-at-home mom
who was active in
Egyptian
politics.
They taught her that, “nothing in life comes easy,”
and that she would have to work for the things
she wanted.
Her friends thought she was crazy! She was
trading a safe job with a steady pay cheque for an
uncertain future with no guarantee of ultimate
success! Randa admits that the decision was not
without risks. “Although I believed in myself and
I was confident I could do it,” she confides, “I did
keep asking myself, ‘what if I fail – then what?’
But soon she was approached by her first client
and from that point on stayed focused on serving
the client well and building the business.
“I started from home”, she says. “I had my
computer, my phone, my fax – I didn’t need much
start-up investment.” For the first six months she
worked alone. “It was tough having to do
everything all by myself,” she admits, “but I
couldn’t afford to hire anyone, and I knew that I
was building something for me.”
Her entrepreneurial flair became evident at a
very early age. “When I was a child, I used to read
two books a day. In the morning, I would buy a
book for 15 piasters, then by midday, sell the
book for 11 piasters, save up my proceeds, and go
buy another one,” Randa laughs.
Early in 1997, when she really needed to bring
in someone with marketing expertise to help her,
she convinced, Mohamed Khalifa, a man she had
met while working at PepsiCo to join her as a
partner. And in 1999, the growing company took
in a third partner, Ahmed Abdoun.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Mass
Communication from the American University in
Cairo and a Master of Science in International
Marketing from the University of Strathclyde in
Scotland, she was quickly scooped up by the
multinationals after graduation. She gained
experience as an Account Executive at Americana
Advertising, a Market Research Planning Manager
at Proctor & Gamble Egypt, and the Marketing
Manager at PepsiCo Foods Egypt.
Businesses: Marketing Mix; Creative Lab
Marketing consultancy firm and advertising
agency
Years started: 1996, 2001
Location: 28 Tiba, 5th Floor, Mohandessin
Employees: 28
Volume of business: Total client marketing
budgets approaching LE 75 million
Ph: (20) 012 1042 189
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.creativelab-adv.com
Her decision to start a business was prompted
in 1996 when PepsiCo Foods offered her a move
from the marketing department into business
development. Wanting to stay in the marketing
end of the business, which she loved, she started
thinking there might be an opportunity to carve
out a niche for a new kind of marketing support
company in Egypt, one that would serve the
unmet needs of local companies that could not
afford to have their own in-house marketing
departments despite being in great need of
marketing and brand-building support.
20
The decision to have partners was a crucial one
for Randa, but in hindsight, she says, “It was the
smartest thing I did in building the business. First,
they took some of the load of growing the
business off of my shoulders and second, they
brought their own unique skills and expertise to
the Marketing Mix. Making them partners also
reduced the risk that they would leave the
company.”
In 2001, the three partners started a sister
company, Creative Lab, to be the advertising arm
of Marketing Mix. Today, the two companies
employ 28 people and base their earnings on
clients’ marketing budgets exceeding LE 75
million. Randa is very proud of the fact that her
companies’ work has led to significant market
growth for the majority of her client firms.
The key to success of Randa’s companies is the
strong professional reputation for delivering
effective marketing solutions in a highly
professional and ethical manner. “You have to
build your business on values, no matter what it
takes. You may encounter short-term financial
losses along the way when you stick to your
values, and you may be tempted to compromise
them, but in the long term it will pay off. These
values are important in Egypt, as they are
everywhere,” she says.
However, the business has not been without its
“ups and downs”. In 2002, Marketing Mix lost a
major client that accounted for about 60 percent
of its income. “It was a dark day for us, but the
next day I said to everyone, ‘this is life. Let’s go
and get new business and learn a lesson from
this.’’’ So they diversified their client base to
include a number of smaller accounts in a variety
of different sectors so the ups and downs of one
sector wouldn’t have such an impact on the
business. “Now, if we lose a client, no problem –
we have plenty of others, and the impact is not as
significant.”
What about future plans? “How to grow
regionally is the one thing that keeps me awake at
night,” says Randa. “We want to become the first
Egyptian marketing consultancy to become
established in the Gulf Region, while still
maintaining the high level of quality that we have
here in Cairo.”
Her advice to other women wanting to start a
business? “Learn first, gain experience, and then
start the business. Going into business without
experience increases your chance of failure. And
don’t be afraid to invest in people and to do
whatever it takes to get the right partners and
employees on board.”
21
skills, she attended a number of seminars at the
Women Business Development Center. But what
helped her most was participating in study tours to
Kenya and Holland to visit other flower growers
and meet with flower growing experts who could
point to studies and publications that helped with
the transfer of technical and professional knowhow. These study tours were organized by the
HEIA, an organization that promotes the
exporting of agricultural products with project
support from USAID.
Azza El Mahdy, “Flowering” Entrepreneur Azza El Mahdy,
owner of Audriana
Flowers, with eight
greenhouses located
just outside of
Cairo, is a pioneer in
the growing of
flowers in Egypt.
But until about
seven years ago
growing flowers had
only been a hobby.
The Flower Growers Council within HEIA has
21 flower growers – Azza is the only woman in
the group! In fact, as she emphatically declares, “I
am the only woman I know growing flowers in
Egypt. It’s not an easy job. Flowers are very
sensitive. You have to check on them every day.
It’s a seven-day workweek. You have to work
hard. And there’s a lot of capital investment.”
Although she was
born in Egypt, she
spent much of her childhood in the United States
where her father was pursuing a PhD program.
Her mother, who loved gardening, died when
Azza was 13, the year after the family returned to
Egypt. But fond memories of her mother growing
flowers in the beauty of her back yard garden
made an ever-lasting impression on Azza as a
young girl.
Four years into the
venture she decided
to try her hand at
exporting
which
meant
expanding
her operation. So
she rented five more
feddans of land, the
minimal she says is
needed for a truly
viable flower-growing enterprise. With the help of
HEIA, she did a study of the market demand in
Holland and Kenya. But to meet the demands of
an export market she would have to have to invest
more capital to upgrade her greenhouses and build
a cool storage facility, plus learn more of the “ins
and outs” of exporting procedures.
She went on to study literature and American
drama at Cairo University and during her second
year of studies, started working part-time as an
airline hostess, which ended up being her full-time
occupation for 20 years. On her travels to various
parts of the world, she would buy flower seeds,
and experiment with growing them in her own
back yard garden.
After 20 years of working, Azza married for the
second time. Her new husband insisted that she
quit working and so she left her job to stay at
home. The marriage turned out to be a failure and
when she finally divorced, Azza decided to turn
her flower-growing hobby into a business as a way
to survive. “In late 1999,” Azza recalls, “I bought
a half feddan of land on Mansoureya Road, built a
small house, hired two workers, and set about
growing flowers for the local market.”
Business: Audriana Flowers
Grower and wholesaler of exclusive rare
collections of cut flowers for local markets
Year started: Late 1999
Location: Mansoureya Road
Employees: 8
Capital investment: LE 300,000
Ph : (20) 010 1960 086
Email : [email protected]
Affiliations: Member, Flower Growers Council
within HEIA
She faced many challenges during the first four
years of the business. “I really didn’t have any
business management skills and it was almost
impossible to find professionals with know-how
in flower growing.” To improve her management
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Audriana Flowers now has eight greenhouses,
employs a total of eight employees and produces
and sells a wide range of flowers, including lilium,
calla, lisianthus, chrysanthemus, trachlium,
euphoria, tulips, roses and other special species,
supplying local flower shops and some exporting
wholesalers.
To
obtain
the
financing she would
need
for
the
expansion, she took
in a partner, Gehan
El Baghdady, who
was in the vegetable
growing
business
and so understood
some of the growth
challenges. A year later, they obtained their first
order from the Netherlands and in January 2004,
Audriana Flowers showed up in the “cut flowers”
international gallery, a big event for the company.
Unfortunately, Azza considers her exporting
attempt a “disappointment”. “My freight costs
were high, I was paying a high import cost on the
seeds I was bringing in from Holland, and I found
it hard to compete with growers in Kenya and
South America. I was not only losing money but I
had lots of other problems including finding
workers
competent
in
supervising
my
greenhouses. So I abandoned my exporting plan,
at least for awhile.” When this happened, Gehan
left the partnership and Azza continued on her
own.
As for the future? Azza would still like to
expand, even try exporting again, but this time to
Arab countries with customized flowers meeting
clients’ specific requirements. “Right now,” Azza
says, “I feel that I’m doing something I’m happy
with and I’m proud of the fact that I can help the
people who work for me by training them and
giving them knowledge.”
Her advice to
other women who
want to have a
business is simple.
“If she’s in the
flower business, she
has to be patient
because it takes a lot
of time and she has
to work hard.”
23
husband and my own determination, I wouldn’t
have gotten though it all!”
Dr. Amira Boshra, “Scientific” Entrepreneur It took a lot of capital investment. Amira needed
about LE 700,000 for the project, most of which
came from her own savings, plus a small loan
from the Social Fund for Development (SFD).
Finally, the factory opened in late 1999, and QualiBeauty Egypt was officially born!
Dr.
Amira Boshra,
President of QualiBeauty Egypt, didn’t
grow up wanting to
have
her
own
business – in fact
she
wanted
to
become a dentist.
But her father, who
always pushed her
to be number one,
motivated in her a
drive to be the best
at whatever she did.
She started out small, in the beginning producing
only hennas and powders with no additives. She
gradually diversified her product line to include
shampoos, hair balsams, acetones, and shower
gels, products she formulated based on an analysis
of the behaviours
and
needs
of
Egyptian
women
and
lots
of
experimentation in
her research lab.
Initially, she also
hired and trained
workers herself, but
since has been able
to employ a qualified
PhD in her factory
to monitor quality
control
in
the
production.
In university she had many interests. After
studying French in undergraduate school, she
entered the Faculty of Science in Biochemistry at
Ain Shams University and then pursued a
doctorate in pharmacy.
When she graduated with her PhD, she had the
option to join the faculty as a professor but
instead chose to work in medical laboratories.
Over the next 10 years, she gained product and
marketing management experience working in
large multinational companies - Yardley’s, L’Oreal
and Estee Lauder - in England and France.
Amira credits the National Council for Women’s
Women Business Development Center (WBDC)
for providing tremendous support. “They helped
me with marketing lessons, whatever I needed,
they were there.”
Then Amira decided to return to Egypt and start
her own laboratory that would make and sell a line
of cosmetics for the Egyptian market that she
would formulate herself. “I was a biochemist, I
had learned a lot from the big companies about
product quality and how to manage, so it was easy
for me to manufacture cosmetics. And I really
wanted to do something on my own.”
Business: Quali-Beauty Egypt
Manufacture and wholesale distribution of
shampoos, creams, soaps, oils (under “Chantal”
brand name) and liquid soap (under “Marmar”
brand name) to supermarkets, pharmacies and
wholesalers
Year started: 1999
Location: Badr Industrial City
Employees: 15
Turnover: LE 300,000
Ph: (20) 2 8641 212
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.cleostore.com
She had bought a piece of land in Badr
Industrial City in 1992, but didn’t start building
her factory until 1995. It took the next five years
to get it ready.
“Every single thing was a problem”, she says,
“getting building permits, registering the business,
electricity hook-ups, health and fire inspections,
everything was very difficult. I had to work hard
every day. I really wanted to do this. I wanted
success. But if it hadn’t been for God, my
24
Quali-Beauty Egypt sells to Oscars and other
large supermarkets and pharmacies in Egypt. In
July 2006, she secured the Carrefours account.
“Being in Carrefours is a big deal for my
company. They ask for new orders every week.”
Although she admits it’s expensive to get listed as
a supplier to the big chains. “I have to pay them
for every product they shelve,” Amira states.
In February 2006, the WBDC entered into a
contract with the National Post Authority to
deliver businesswomen’s’ products to customers
in governorates all over the country. This was an
important event for all businesswomen in Egypt.
In the case of Amira’s company, it has meant the
delivery of two tons of her product to the Sohag
governorate. The SFD is also eager to help her
with whatever she needs.
As for the future
growth potential of
Quali-Beauty Egypt,
Amira has big plans.
She is currently only
using 600 square
metres of her 1200
square metre factory
so has the capacity
to
double
her
production. “I want
to go to every single pharmacy, every single
supermarket, and have my products on their
shelves. I want to have franchises with strong
partners and open ‘Chantal’ stores everywhere.”
Her biggest challenge is establishing a stronger
distribution system.
In 2007, Quali-Beauty Egypt has 15 full-time
employees and hires casual workers to deal with
peak periods. Her capital investment has increased
to almost LE 3 million. She produces 29 different
products under the “Chantal” and “Marmar”
labels – shampoos, soaps, creams and lotions, oils,
and liquid detergents. Three of her employees
work in sales along with Amira, who also spends a
lot of time on market development.
Amira’s advice to
other women who
want to start a
business is straightforward. “Make sure
you choose something you love and
where you have
know-how. Never
stop thinking. You
have to be thinking
all the time.”
“I am learning the market. I do lots of market
research on the Egyptian consumers’ needs and
spend a lot of time traveling to see what’s new in
other places to compare.” Establishing her brands
in the market is critical. “I advertise everywhere –
in magazines, on FM radio, and do lots of fairs
and exhibitions to build exposure for my product
lines and find distributors.” Delivering high
quality products in a well and finely designed
package is her main strategy for distinguishing her
products in local and international markets.
25
styles of the garments she wanted, including
accessories.
Heba El Shenawey, “Fast‐
tracking” Entrepreneur Within a year of starting her first shop in
Heliopolis, she opened a factory in a small rented
apartment in Giza, starting with 15 employees.
She brought in specialists and experts to train her
workers in quality production and enrolled in
courses in marketing, retailing, and fashion
designing because, as she states, “that part wasn’t
my base – I just had the talent to choose good
clothes!” She still commits to taking at least two
courses a year and goes to lots of exhibitions to
learn from other experts.
With
her Cairo
University Dentistry
degree in hand,
Heba El Shenawey,
who grew up in
Port Said, spent
about a year in
private dental practice before discovering that she didn’t
really want to be a
dentist after all! So
when
she
was
offered a position with Plaxo, the big drug
company, she started working for them in product
management.
“After the factory started, everything changed my colors, my styles - and women started coming
to shop at my stores from all over Egypt.” Eager
to meet the growing demand from women in
other parts of the country, she soon opened a
third retail outlet in Alexandria.
“Initially I just wanted a small shop. I didn’t
want a factory and a big store. But when I saw
that women needed my designs, I felt it was my
role to make products of high quality, fashionable
design and reasonable price.”
In the world of private industry, she found that
women wore more classic dress styles than she
was used to. Unable to find much of what she
wanted, in a wide range of styles and sizes, within
Egypt, she expanded her search to places like
Istanbul and Paris, where she found a much
broader selection of the right clothes for her new
work environment. And that’s when the idea came
to her, “why not import some of these clothes and
retail them in Cairo to other women like me?” So
while still in her job at Plaxo, she rented a small
120 square metre space in the Heliopolis area,
imported about 500 pieces of inventory, and
opened “Femina Ladies Wear”. It was October
2000.
By 2007 she had six stores, four in Cairo and
two in Alexandria, had moved her factory into a
much bigger rented space and secured a
warehouse. She employs 212 people in her
manufacturing, distribution and retail operations,
working in two shifts a day. Sales have grown
exponentially from LE 284,000 in 2001 to over
LE 14 million in 2006.
Business: Femina for Ready Made Garments
Design, manufacture and retail of fashionable
clothing for the Egyptian woman through a
chain of branded and company-owned retail
stores
Year started: 2000
Location: Several in Cairo and Alexandria
Employees: 212
Turnover: LE 14.1 million
Ph: (20) 2 4189 390
Affiliations: Member of the Egyptian Business
Women Association
After four or five months, Heba realized that
she would have to commit to the business full
time if she wanted to build a brand for her nascent
store. So she quit her Plaxo job and became a fulltime entrepreneur with four employees.
Before long, she discovered that her imported
women’s wear didn’t quite match the preferences
of her Egyptian customers. Jackets were too short,
pants weren’t long enough. She would have to
design and manufacture her own line of clothing!
But, to support the output of even a small factory,
she needed more retail capacity, so she opened a
second store in Mohandessin, this time with 300
square metres. Then Heba set about designing
26
Heba’s factory produces 30,000 garments each
season – a full line of casual, smart casual, classic
and evening wear, a line of modern hijabs for
Muslim women, plus accessories. She deals with
suppliers in Egypt, Turkey, Hong Kong and
China. And because her garment company is for
women, most of her managers are also women. “I
like the fact that I can give young women an
opportunity to work in the private sector so they
can learn responsibility and gain experience.”
So how did this young 30-year old woman with
no business experience make all of this happen?
To raise the LE 100,000 it took to open her very
first store, she pulled out all stops - sold her car,
took all of her savings, borrowed privately, and
arranged a credit facility. She rented her factory
space in order to minimize the capital investment
and used a credit facility to pay for machines,
equipment and inventory.
Heba has big plans for the future. “First in
Egypt, I am planning to move my factory to a
Free Trade Zone to ease problems with customs
procedures on my imported fabrics and
accessories. Plus, I want to open up more retail
branches in Cairo and Alexandra and other areas
within Egypt. To supply the new stores, I will
need more production capacity. I have 50
machines now. I plan to have 200! Second, I want
‘Femina’ to be an international brand. I am
negotiating franchising agreements in Romania
right now and want to do the same thing in Jordan
and maybe Saudi Arabia.”
But as she says, “It
wasn’t easy to create
a new brand. In the
beginning I had
problems with cash
flow and had to
borrow money from
my husband and
father to get me
through some crisis
periods.” Heba is
quick to admit that
her husband was a
big help in other ways as well. With his
background in accounting and retailing, he was
able to offer her useful advice, as well as take care
of problems with the business licensing process
and the legal and tax issues. She has been able to
finance her recent growth by reinvesting her
profits.
There’s obviously no stopping this young fasttracking entrepreneur!
Her advice to other
women who want to
start a business? “Even
if you start a very small
business, you must do
everything right. At
first I made a lot of
mistakes. You have to
do things in the right
way, which is often the
hard way. But if things
are done right in the
beginning, and you
succeed, it will be
easier to grow.”
The key to her success so far has been a wellexecuted strategy that includes attending
international fashion trade shows to stay abreast
of the latest designs, colors and fabrics; advanced
stock management systems; a just-in-time
distribution system; innovative merchandising;
and employee development programs.
27
About the Small and Medium Enterprise Policy Development Project (SMEPoL) The Small & Medium Enterprise Policy Development Project is a partnership between the Egyptian
Ministry of Finance, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the International
Development Research Center (IDRC). The project’s purpose is to support the Government of Egypt,
through the Ministry of Finance and other partners, in the development of improved collaborative
implementation mechanisms for policies, legislation, and regulations supporting micro, small and medium
enterprise (M/SME) development. It commenced as a four-year project in June 2000 and was extended to
July 2006. Another extension to January 2008 is intended to implement policies developed throughout the
first phases of the project.
The overall impact of the project is to have “an improved and gender-sensitive policy environment for
M/SME development”, which is to be achieved through the following outcomes:
1. The Ministry of Finance and its partners have supported the implementation of gender sensitive
policies, legislation and regulations that facilitate M/SME development.
2. Improved gender-sensitive knowledge and information made available to stakeholders on M/SME
development issues.
3. More participatory and inclusive measures of consultation established to refine and implement
specific M/SME policies, regulations and legislation.
The SMEPol Project supports gender equality in all of its activities with a particular priority on gender
issues in SME development. One of the indicators to measure the project’s performance is “reduction in
obstacles to the full participation of women in SME activities”. To this end, SMEPol is conducting a gender
perspective review of selected previously conducted studies to identify gender-specific issues which need to
be addressed in areas related to financing and legislations and procedures affecting the establishment and
growth of M/SMEs. The Project carries out consultations with other donor projects to grasp their hands-on
experience regarding gender issues in M/SME development. In addition, the Project seeks to ensure a
representation of women entrepreneurs in the many policy consultations, workshops, and conferences
facilitated to discuss policy issues and recommendations.
In 2006, the Project created a Discussion Forum for the purpose of examining methods of enhancing
women’s entrepreneurship in Egypt and to promote the sharing of experience and knowledge on the subject.
The Forum includes as members researchers, donors, and key organizations concerned about these issues.
For more information, please contact
Ministry of Finance
SMEPol Project
1 Bostan St., Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt
Tel.: (202) 5789443 – 5789129
Fax: (202) 7730139
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.sme.gov.eg
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