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EgyptianWomenEntrepreneurs

ProfilesofSuccess

March2007


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Acknowledgements

The Small and Medium Enterprise Policy (SMEPol) Project would like to express appreciation to anumber of people and organizations that supported the concept behind this publication and assistedwith identifying the successful women entrepreneurs who are featured.

First of all, we thank members of the Donors SME Sub-group and Gender Sub-group whoenthusiastically responded to the proposal and agreed to make it part of their 2007 International

Womens Day event to highlight womens enterprise activity in Egypt. We extend appreciation tomembers of the Discussion Forum on Womens Entrepreneurship in Egypt who embraced the ideaand provided input, with special thanks to the National Council for Womens Women BusinessDevelopment Center, the GTZ Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Programme, and theEgyptian Business Women Association who provided information on potential profiles. We alsoexpress gratitude to the Canadian International Development Agency and the InternationalDevelopment Research Center, partners with the Ministry of Finance in the SMEPol Project, and tothe Ministry of Investment.

Lastly, we need to offer a special thanks to the 10 women who agreed to be profiled, willingly gaveof their valuable time for interviews with the SMEPol team, and went out of their way to provide uswith up-to-date information on their businesses, their successes, their challenges, and their plans forthe future. Without their cooperation, the dream of this publication would not have been realized.


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TableofContents

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 4

LoulaZaklama,TrailblazingEntrepreneur ............................................................ 8

AzzaFahmy,InspiredEntrepreneur ...................................................................... 10

RandaFahmy,InnovativeEntrepreneur................................................................ 12

Dr.AmanyAsfour,EmpoweredEntrepreneur..................................................... 14

ThourayaHelmy,IncrementalEntrepreneur ........................................................ 16

NeveenElTahri, InvestingEntrepreneur............................................................... 18

RandaIbrahimAbdou,ProfessionalEntrepreneur .............................................. 20

AzzaElMahdy,FloweringEntrepreneur.............................................................. 22

Dr.AmiraBoshra,ScientificEntrepreneur ............................................................ 24

HebaElShenawey,FasttrackingEntrepreneur ................................................... 26


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Introduction

According to 2006 Egyptian Labor Force Surveystatistics, there are some 630,000 woman-ownedmicro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Egypt. Animpressive number in absolute terms! But not soimpressive when compared to the number ofmale-owned MSEs. Of the total MSE population,women make up less than 17 percent. This meansthat men outnumber women by a ratio of morethan 5 to 1. In most countries around the worldwhere such data is available, the averageproportion is closer to 2 to 1, suggesting there ispotential in Egypt for a higher number of women

entrepreneurs.

Of course, one of the factors influencing thelevel of womens entrepreneurial activity is the lowparticipation rate of women in the workforce,which is lower in Egypt than in most non-Arabcountries. In addition, many of the women whoare in the workforce are employed in the publicsector. In Egypts private sector, only 15 percentof workers are women.

Not being in the workforce at all means thatwomen do not have much opportunity to gain

business skills and experience or to be exposed toideas for developing products and services to fillunmet needs or gaps in the marketplace. Andinternational research on the background ofentrepreneurs reveals that public sectoremployment does not provide a very strongincubation environment for emergingentrepreneurs compared to employment in theprivate sector, especially, employment in small ormedium enterprises. Therefore, entrepreneuriallyspeaking Egyptian women are at a disadvantage.

Findings from a comprehensive survey of the

MSE sector carried out in 2002 and 2003 by theEconomic Research Forum (ERF) suggests that,compared to male-owned MSEs in Egypt,womens enterprises are started with aconsiderably lower level of capitalization; are morehighly concentrated in the trade sector (wherebarriers to entry are low); more likely to have onlyone worker; more likely to have outsideestablishments in the informal sector; and less

likely to be exporting. In addition, they have lessaccess to formal technical, business management,and entrepreneurial training, businessdevelopment services (BDS), and finance, coupledwith a lower average level of education and higherilliteracy rate than men. So from a business growthperspective, Egyptian women MSEs are also at adisadvantage.

Egypt is a nation of very small enterprises. In theMSE sector, only three percent of male-ownedenterprises have over 10 employees; for women-owned enterprises, it is less than one percent. Butthis means that close to 60,000 of the 630,000women-owned MSEs are in the small enterprisecategory (with between 10 and 49 employees)!

With respect to womens entrepreneurship in

Egypt, there appear to be two major challenges.The first is to create a cultural, social, andeconomic environment that is more favorable tothe emergence of women as entrepreneurs, andthe second is to ensure that women who alreadyhave their own enterprises have adequate access tothe resources and supports needed forsustainability and growth, that is, financing,technical and business management training,information, BDS, business networks, andtechnology. Without addressing these challenges,the Egyptian economy will not be able to benefit

from the latent and untapped economic andentrepreneurial potential of the half of itspopulation represented by women!

There are a number of efforts in Egypt toimprove the socio-economic environment forwomen, including for women entrepreneurs. TheNational Council for Women (NCW) has theGovernment of Egypt mandate to advance thestatus of Egyptian women by enhancing theirsocial, economic and political status. The WomenBusiness Development Center (WBDC), operatedunder the auspices of the NCW, offers technical,

financial, and legal counseling to women atvarious stages of business development andgrowth, including administrative, research andmarketing support to women seeking to start abusiness. The Social Fund for Development(SFD), a major government body to support MSEdevelopment, has developed a strategy designed toenable and support the capacity of womenentrepreneurs to benefit from loans and facilities


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offered by the Small Enterprise DevelopmentOrganization (SEDO) and also places specialemphasis on female-headed households andwomens employment.

Many of the donors in Egypt stress theimportance of gender mainstreaming and often setquantitative targets in their micro, small andmedium enterprise support projects for thereaching of women as beneficiaries.

There are at least 22 businesswomenassociations (BWAs) in the country offeringnetworking, training, and other supports to thewomen entrepreneurs who are their members,although for the most part they reach only a smallnumber of women in MSEs and have limitedresources and capacity. These BWAs do play animportant role in promoting womens

entrepreneurial activity and raising awareness ofthe needs and concerns of women in business intheir communities.

However, it has to be said that women in Egyptface any number of cultural, social, familial,economic and regulatory barriers and resourceconstraints that inhibit their more activeparticipation in entrepreneurial activity.

Promotion and awareness-raising are among themost critical elements in changing theenvironment for womens entrepreneurial activity.This is true in any country, as it is for Egypt. It

involves creating heightened public awareness ofthe role of women in entrepreneurial activity andthe contribution they make to the economy and tosociety in general, and promotion ofentrepreneurship as a viable and feasibleemployment opportunity for women. Animportant vehicle for creating this awareness is theprofiling of successful women entrepreneurs whocan serve, not only as credible role-models forother women, but also to challenge some of themyths and widespread misperceptions regardingwomens capabilities as economic generators.

Egyptian Women Entrepreneurs: Profiles ofSuccess is just such an instrument! In thispublication we have brought together the profilesof 10 Egyptian women entrepreneurs whorepresent five decades of entrepreneurial history.Loula Zaklama started in business in 1962, longbefore private sector business activity was widelyaccepted in the country; sisters Azza Fahmy and

Randa Fahmy each separately started their ownbusinesses in the late 1970s; Dr. Amany Asfour inthe 1980s; and Randa Ibrahim Abdou, Dr. AmiraBoshra, Azza El Mahdy, Neveen El Tahri andThouraya Helmy in the 1990s; and Heba ElShenawey in 2000.

These 10 women entrepreneurs currently own atotal of 13 businesses, and for half of them it isnot their first or only business. Their time asentrepreneurs ranges from seven years to 45 years.Three of them have been in business for less than10 years, four of them for 10-20 years and three ofthem for more than 20 years. The average age oftheir current businesses is about 14 years, rangingfrom 5 to 29 years.

Collectively, these 10 women create jobs forover 700 workers. Individually, they employ

between 8 and 212 people. And they generatesales revenues in excess of LE 150 million a year.About 60 percent of them are involved in somedegree of exporting their products/services toother countries, and several are importers. Non-exporters have ambitious future plans to expandinto other parts of the Arab Region and Europe.

They own businesses in a diversity of sectors.Half of them have factories where they producejewellery, 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 medicalequipment distribution, and one has a greenhouseoperation where she grows rare collections offlowers.

We did not make education level one of thecriteria in selecting the women for these profiles,but it just so happens that they all have at leastone university degree and half of them haveadvanced degrees. Given the statistics on Egyptianwomen who own MSEs, not the typical level ofeducation! In most cases their education relates to

the type of business they started. In others, suchas the case with Azza El Mahdy, whose degree inliterature and American drama has little to do withgreenhouses and flower growing, their educationis unrelated to the type of business they are in.

In terms of previous working experiences, fourof them got involved in their own businesses at ayoung age so basically, they have always been


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entrepreneurs. Another four had careers thatlasted at least 10 years or more in the privatesector, some of them in multinational companieswhere they gained a lot of product knowledge and,in some cases, management experience that servedthem well once in their own businesses. Five of

them started businesses related to their previousexperience and three of them started businessesthat were completely unrelated to their educationor work experience.

They differed in their motivations for becomingan entrepreneur. One group of these womenstarted a business because they had no choice itwas a matter of economic necessity and survival.For a second group, it was more of a fortuitousaccident that led to a hobby becoming a business.For a third group, it was opportunity driven theystarted businesses to pursue an opportunity, either

to fill a market need or fulfill a creative passion.But they are all very similar in their motivationsnow to grow, to achieve, and to be moresuccessful in an expanded marketplace.

These women entrepreneurs share a number ofother features in common. First of all, they allstarted as very small enterprises, several of themfrom a home base, most with no more than twoworkers, if that. They have all grown, some moregradually than others. As described in their words,it wasnt easy for any of them. They haddifficulties with financing, business registration

and licensing processes, customs procedures,building permits, the high costs of importing,finding specialized information and expertiserelated to their businesses, and for some of thewomen, with achieving the right balance betweenmanaging the business and their parenting role.

Some of them took in partners; others soughthelp from the WBDC, obtained loans from theSFD, and/or immersed themselves in learning bytaking courses and participating in internationalfairs and exhibitions. They all cited the importanceof determination, persistence, patience, familysupport and good old-fashioned hard work inovercoming obstacles and achieving success.

They are all innovators and leaders in their field.Women like Azza and Randa Fahmy haveachieved international acclaim for their creativeinnovativeness. For many, the business theystarted was the first of its kind in the country thefirst private advertising agency (Loula Zaklama),

the first marketing consultancy by practitioners(Randa Ibrahim Adbou), the first Egyptian gallerydedicated to traditional handicrafts of a highstandard (the Fahmys). In other words, many ofthem have broken new ground. In addition, manyof them have achieved personal firsts. Neveen El

Tahri was the first women to serve on the Boardof the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges,Loula Zaklama was the first person from theMiddle East to be President of the InternationalPublic Relations Association, Azza Fahmy was thefirst woman to train as an apprentice undermasters in Cairos Jewellery Quarter, Azza ElMahdy is the only women in the Flower GrowersCouncil of the HEIA, and so on.

Most of them are also making significantcontributions to their professions, to theircommunities, or to the advancement of social and

economic causes. Loula Zaklama has dedicatedherself to advancing the public relations industryin Egypt; Dr. Amany Asfour co-founded theAfrican Society of Scientific Research andTechnology to encourage investment in scientificresearch and technology to improve value-addedand productivity in all sectors of Egyptian society;and Neveen El Tahri started the Egyptian CapitalMarkets Association, as examples.

The Fahmys run a training center to teach otherwomen in traditional crafts, which provides themwith skills and employment opportunities.

Thouraya Helmy of Silk in Silk offers co-operativetraining to 12 students a year from the Mubarak-Kohl Project with a similar goal, and Dr. AmanyAsfour started the Egyptian Business WomenAssociation (EBWA) because she wanted to helpyoung women start businesses and to encourageall women to become more economicallyempowered as a way of improving theircircumstances.

These woman-owned enterprises are alsoincubation environments for other women. InHeba El Shenaweys enterprise, Femina for ReadyMade Garments, all of the managers are womenand Heba takes great pride in the fact that herbusiness gives young women the opportunity towork in the private sector where they can learnresponsibility and gain experience. Azza ElMahdy, Audriana Flowers, also gains muchsatisfaction from seeing her workers gainknowledge in flower growing that they can then


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later apply in their own gardening operations.Many of these activities are having an impact onthe poverty alleviation of marginalized groups,particularly women and youth, by providing themwith training and employment.

They stress consistent themes in their advice toother women who want to start businesses: start abusiness you love and love what you do; learn,study, train, and keep learning; dontunderestimate your ideas; work hard; do thingsright from the beginning because its thefoundation for growth; be persistent and patient;and as Loula Zaklama advises, never give up even when youre down, never give up.

The 10 profiled women entrepreneurs do notperhaps reflect the typical statistical profile ofan Egyptian MSE, but they do represent a few

thousand of the women who have more than 10employees and who have potential to grow theirenterprises. In that sense, they are only illustrativeof the many equally and wonderfully inspiringexamples of womens entrepreneurship in Egypt.

They have been courageous, committed andcaring. They are innovative, bold, and empowered.And they are women entrepreneurs who aremaking a significant contribution to the economicand social betterment of Egyptians and to thecountrys future prosperity.

We hope that these profiles will serve to be aninspiration to all existing and potential womenentrepreneurs. We also hope they serve tochallenge any prevailing public misperceptionsabout the potential of Egyptian women to besignificant contributors to the economic growthand prosperity of Egypt.

The women are presented to you based on theyear in which they started their first business,beginning with the trail-blazing 1960sentrepreneur, Loula Zaklama, RadaResearch &

Public Relations and ending with the fast-tracking entrepreneur of the 2000s, Heba ElShenawey, Femina for Ready Made Garments.


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LoulaZaklama,Trailblazing

Entrepreneur

Loula Zaklama, thePresident andManaging Directorof RadaResearch &Public Relations inCairo, is one of thetop 50 womenentrepreneurs in theworld! So saidFortune Magazinein 1998. And in2006, she wasselected by Forbes

Magazine as one the 50 leading Arab

businesswomen in the Middle East! These areoutstanding recognitions for an Assiut-bornwoman who, 45 years ago, was the first in herentire family to work and have a career. Nowoman in my family ever worked before. Myfamily did not even know any women whoworked.

In the 1960s, when Loula started in business, theword businesswoman was unfamiliar toEgyptian ears. Women doctors, lawyers, andprofessors, yes, exclaims Loula, but neverbusinesswomen. Money and business were theexclusive property of men back then. Not thatshe ever planned to have her own business!

Like many Egyptian women at the time, Loulamarried young. By the age of 19, she already hadtwo children. Her husband was working atEgyptAir and Loula was taking care of the babiesand studying at the university (where sheeventually earned a degree in MassCommunications). In 1961, her husband started asmall private advertising agency as a part-timeactivity to earn extra income. The following year,he was arrested and detained. Loula, left alone toprovide for herself and her children, decided shewould have to try to run her husbands nascentbusiness in order to survive. The year was 1962.Her business was Radar Advertising Agency,where she had the big title of President andManaging Director, but a very, very smallbusiness!

I had no idea what the business was about. So Itook some advertising courses at the university.My mother and mother-in-law took care of thechildren. At the time, I was too busy studying,struggling and running like mad to find and keepmy few clients.

Not only was her business the first privatelyowned advertising company in the country, butshe herself was breaking ground as one of the firstwomen entrepreneurs in Egypt in the 1960s!Everything was against me especially thesocialist regime. I was defying the system becauseI was in the private sector at a time when onlypeople working for the government were able tosurviveI was fighting not against anothercompany, but against power. Attracting businesswas difficult. Back then, Egypt was a completelystate-run economy where contracting to private

firms was not allowed.

During these early years, Loula had a secretaryand a couple of staff and that was it. She managedto survive on a few very small accounts fromProctor & Gamble (until they were nationalized in1967) and other international companies whoneeded advertising campaigns when they enteredthe Egyptian market after initiation of the Open-Door Policy in the late 1970s.

Business: RadaResearch & Public Relations

Public relations and marketing research firmYear 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 theInternational Public Relations Association(IPRA), 2006

Member of the Board of the American Chamberof Commerce in Egypt; the InternationalAdvertising Association (IAA) in Egypt andNew York; and the European Society ofMarketing Research


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In fact, the Open-Door Policy changed thingsfor Loulas tiny enterprise and paved the way forher shift into marketing research and publicrelations. The Infitah meant that a lot ofproducts were being manufactured in Egypt.Consumers faced a lot of new choices. The only

way for multinational companies operating inEgypt to market their products was to betterunderstand consumers needs. And so, in 1982, Istarted RadaResearch & Public Relations torespond to this need I saw.

Today, RadaResearch & Public Relations is oneof Egypts leading companies. It has 45 employeesand in 2006 generated LE 8.8 million in turnover(about US$1.5 million). The company conductsmarket research, coordinates media relations, anddesigns communications campaigns. And some ofits major accounts are with the government!

Loulas company prepared the InvestmentPromotion Campaign for the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and is currently a consultant to theMinistry of Investment to create greater publicawareness of privatization and to promote foreigndirect investment. She has lent a hand in revivingtourism through a public relations campaign calledEmbrace Egypt that was launched at theinitiative of the private tourism industry and shecontinues to be a strong advocate for the futureprosperity of the country.

Over the years, Loula has also worked tirelesslyto develop and improve the public relations

industry in Egypt and was instrumental inintroducing the International AdvertisingAssociation (IAA) course to the AmericanUniversity in Cairo.

In 2006, she was elected President of theInternational Public Relations Association (IPRA),the first person from the Middle East to serve inthis position. IPRA is present in 90 countries.

Her pioneering efforts have also left a legacy onthe role of women in work in her own family.Although she has some regrets for having missed

out on parts of her daughters growing upexperiences, they both now work with her in thebusiness, as do two of her granddaughters.

She offers the following advice to other womenwanting to start a business. You will have tolearn, study, train and work hard. The first step tofailure is to say I do not need to learn, I know itall, and I have done it all. Never give up. Evenwhen youre down, never give up!


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AzzaFahmy,Inspired

Entrepreneur

Azza Fahmy isrecognized as theleading designer offine jewellery in theMiddle East due toboth her innovativedesigns and intricatecraftsmanship. In1969, she was thefirst women inEgypt ever to bepermitted to train asan apprentice under

the masters of Cairos Jewellery Quarter,

historically an exclusively male domain. It wasthere that she learned ancient jewellery-makingtechniques. Now, as CEO of Azza FahmyJewellery, she is also considered one of Egyptsfinest women entrepreneurs.

Azza was born in the southern governorate ofSohaj, Egypt. She studied Fine Arts at HelwanUniversity, specializing in interior design. Aftergraduating, she apprenticed with a master goldand silversmith at the Khan El Khalil and laterwon a fellowship to study modern techniques injewellery design and manufacturing in London.

Azza also had a passion for poetry andphilosophy and a fascination with Arabic andIslamic heritage. She was able to combine thispassion with the techniques she had learned inCairo and London to begin shaping her signaturejewellery collections, a unique mix of silver andgold, hand-picked stones and calligraphicinscriptions that are now worn by jewelleryconnoisseurs, royalty and celebrities worldwide.Not bad for a women who started with a smallworkshop and two workers back in the 1970s!

Her first exhibition in 1974 launched her career.She has since held more than 200 exhibitionsaround the world. Everything inspires me, thebirds, the flowers, and the motifs in a house or apiece of proverb. Inscriptions of wise sayings andmotifs have became a feature of her work, a wayof conveying to the world a message of beautyand the traditions of the Arab world.

In the mid-1970s, she started with a smallworkshop, but had big dreams and lots ofambition. Her vision was to have her jewelleryfind its way to all parts of the world. Early on, sheset a goal to export 80 percent of her designsoutside of Egypt. However, growth came slowly.

She discovered that it wasnt that easy to buildinternational recognition for an Egyptian brand.And that, coupled with financial constraints andthe demands of being a mother, an artist, and abusinesswoman, meant that she could only takesmall steps at a time. However, her reputation forcreative and beautiful jewellery pieces graduallystarted to take root. My passion, the talent Ihave, my creativity and my stamina were the majorforces that drove me forward.

In 1981, she opened her first gallery, Al AinGallery, with two partners, her sister Randa

Fahmy, a metalworker, and her then husband, thearchitect Nabil Ghali. This was the first gallery inEgypt to exhibit and sell traditional handicrafts ofa high quality standard and to serve as an outletfor the work of the three artists.

Azza now has a large Cairo-based factoryemploying over 180 workers who manufactureand market Azza Fahmy designs, five stores inCairo and locations in Bahrain, Jordan, Dubai, andLondon. The business is a significant importer ofprecious and semi-precious stones and semi-manufactured goods and a major buyer of gold.

As such, her company has to cope regularly withcustoms procedures and inventory management.

Business: Azza Fahmy Jewellery

Produces crafted jewellery in silver, gold,precious and semi-precious stones and reflectingArabic 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 294Email: [email protected]

Website:www.azzafahmy.com

Affiliations: Co-owner, Al Ain Gallery, Cairo

Judge, Gold Virtuosi, International JewelleryDesign Awards


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One of Azzas most pressing challenges hasbeen finding skilled labor, a constraint she hasovercome by providing her workers with extensivetraining. They are now among the best.

Her Signature collections comprise: the CultureLine - a mix of sterling silver and 18 carat goldwith semi-precious stones with a focus on intricatehand crafted filigree work and decorative

calligraphy, includingrings for men; theExclusive Line -limited editions of18 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 withintricate designs and semi-precious stones. Thecompany also offers a bespoke service.

Besides designing her collection jewellery lines,Azza also designs costumes and jewellery fortheatrical productions and movies. She juries theInternational Jewellery Design Awards and in thefall of 2006 saw the launch of her book,Enchanted Jewellery of Egypt: The TraditionalArt & Craft, published by the AmericanUniversity in Cairo Press.

As for the future, Azza Fahmy Jewellery is still afamily enterprise and Azza plans to maintainfamily control over the manufacturing side of thebusiness to ensure design quality, but she hasaggressive plans to expand the retail side of thebusiness and is considering how best to approachthis. Regional expansion of franchised outlets is astrong possibility and the company is looking forinvestors from target countries to act as localpartners.

Her advice for other women who want to havetheir own business? First of all, says Azza,choose a business you love and have a passionfor it. Otherwise, when you run into difficulties,you may want to give up. Second, everyday therewill be something different, so be serious andalways willing to learn.


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RandaFahmy,Innovative

Entrepreneur

Randa Fahmy, ofRandy FahmyDesign & Manufact-uring, was born inthe governorate ofSohaj in southernEgypt. It was neverher intention to bein business, but shenow owns threecompanies and isconsidered theworlds most pre-

eminent designer of architectural finishings in the

Islamic tradition.

She graduated from the School of Art at HelwanUniversity in Zamalek in 1975. After finishing herformal studies, Randa began as an artist. I wasfirst deeply inspired by the great Egyptian painter,Hasan Soliman, who opened my eyes to ourtraditions and passed on his prodigious disciplinethat has served me well over the last 30 years.But to be a painter, she would need to dosomething else part-time to support herself. Shefound that thing in traditional Islamic metalwork.

Not that she ever imagined herself as abusinesswoman. The last thing I wanted to dowas end up working in an office for someone else.The fact that I have a successful business is a by-product of my creativity. I set out to make a livingfrom doing something creative, something Iloved.

While apprenticing with metalsmiths at theKhan El Khalili bazaar, and learning everythingshe could about Islamic metalwork, she started todesign and make her own lanterns, hiring an oldmetalworker from Shobra to fabricate the pieces

to her precise specifications and quality. When sheheld her first exhibition in 1978, she was workingfrom a small atelier, but after the great response toher beautiful lighting designs from designers andarchitects from all over the Middle East, shebegan to see the market opportunity to developher craft into a viable business. She was ready toestablish her small but hopeful Randa FahmyMetalwork into just that!

During that time in Egypts history, there wereno institutions to help finance small businesses.There was nothing at all entrepreneurial about theEgyptian economy. So I wasnt thinking aboutsome kind of big business. I was simply lookingfor a way to support myself as an artist in Egypt

under those circumstances. But because the costof living was low, wages were low and rents werelow, I was able to start a business without anycapital to think of. Through her perseveranceand creativity, Randa became the firstcontemporary designer in Islamic metalwork tomaster the traditional canons of the craft and torecreate the proportions and detail that broughtIslamic metalwork into its glory.

Her sister, Azza Fahmy, was also at the timetrying to establish herself as an artist in the Islamictradition as a jeweller. My mother supported

both me and my sister at a time when womenwere not encouraged to have careers. My sister,Azza, has always been my inspiration. She led theway and made it easier for me to get started.

In 1981, she wasa partner withAzza and Azzashusband in theopening of the AlAin Gallery inCairo. The gallery became an early retail outlet forher lanterns and innovative lighting designs. In

1982, she expanded her own workshop into thelargest metalsmithing workshop in Egypt. Herbusiness has grown organically, but by her ownadmission, without any real planning, soundmanagement or business strategy.

Businesses: Randa Fahmy Design &Manufacturing; Randa Fahmy & AssociatesDesign Consultants

Architectural finishings in metal, ceramics,wood, marble and stone; interior designconsultancy

Years started: 1978, 1999

Location: 22, Ibrahim Ramadan St., Boulak ElDakrour; Factory in 6th of October IndustrialCity, P61

Employees: 60-70

Ph: (20) 2 3274 303

Website: www.randafahmy.com

Affiliations: Co-owner, Al Ain Gallery


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At one point, Ididnt even knowhow much money Iwas making whether I was in aprofit or a loss. But

in the mid-1990s,when the demandfor her productsstarted to skyrocket,she realized she hadto change. I hadntreally noticed how

much of the burden of the business Id taken onmyself. I created all the designs, did all thebusiness development, handled all the clientrelations, worked out all the costs, liaised witharchitects and contractors, managed the

production, and supervised installation single-handedly!

Painfully aware of the deficiencies in heroperations, she undertook an evaluation of heroperating procedures and reorganized her systems.The hardest transition is to change from a micro-enterprise, driven by a single individual, to a largerorganization that has departments and variousfunctions to handle bigger projects.

Her biggest challenge? Finding the right peopleto take over management responsibilities! Forthis, she has depended a great deal on family

members and quickly admits that her brother Ali,who heads up her operations, is the backbone ofher business. Her husband, a successful writer,business communicator and entrepreneur himself,has helped her to build her brand through thecreation of key strategic materials that bettercommunicated the value of her work. And, ofcourse, Im inspired to keep going because of mybeautiful, intelligent and talented daughter. Imdoing this for her.

In 1999, she established Randa Fahmy &Associates Design Consultants which is an interiordesign consultancy serving the Middle East. Todayher companies employ 60-70 workers, nearly halfof whom are women. And, together, with Azza,they train many other women in traditional crafts.

As for the future, Randa has a new factory underconstruction in the 6th October Industrial City. Itwill have a serial production line and advancedlaser and water-jet technologies so she can handle

large scale projects without killing myself. Weare financing the factory ourselves, and when itopens we will be able work in a wide range ofmaterials, brass, copper, aluminium, tin, iron,ceramics, crystal, alabaster, marble, wood, eventextiles. We will be a one-stop shop for quality

architectural finishings.

She still has manyprojects in Egypt,but is currentlyworking on projectsin Saudi Arabia,Oman, the UAE,Palestine, Bahrain,Qatar and Kuwait,as well as the UnitedStates. I never haveto solicit work. Ive

built up a reservoirof completely uniqueknowledge in thefield. By the time someone imitates me, Ive longsince developed something far more complex,more subtle, more innovative and more beautiful.In that sense I dont really have competitors.

What advice would she give to other womenwanting to start a business? First of all, you haveto love what you do. The path to success is full ofups and downs. You wont be able to sustain theeffort unless you truly love your work. It should

never be solely about the money. It should beabout the quest for excellence. Success and profitwill follow.

She also offers advice to women who want togrow their enterprises. Growing your business ispart of the nature of entrepreneurship. Womenwho want to succeed need to seek out the bestpossible advice to develop and manage thetransition from a micro-enterprise without losingthe heart and soul of the enterprise.

And finally she stresses, If you are a woman

entrepreneur in the Arab world, you have todevelop a thick skin. Ive been lucky because I hadthe total and unconditional support of my family,but this is not always the case, and if it isnt, youreally have to hold to a deep commitment to whatyoure doing. You have to have a realistic vision ofwhat you can achieve, and the good sense to seekout the right advice to allow you to reach yourgoals.


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Dr.AmanyAsfour,

EmpoweredEntrepreneur

For all of AmanyAsfours entrepre-neurial attributes,this Founder ofCairo Scientific Cor-poration, grew up ina completely non-business family. Butshe does credit herparents, who wereboth university pro-fessors, with havingempowered her at a

young age to make her own decisions. Amany

graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at CairoUniversity with a Masters degree and an MD inPaediatrics, something she had wanted to do sinceshe was a little girl. It was the humanity of theprofession that compelled her most.

It was in third year of medical school that shestarted her first business quite by accident. Shewas asked by one of her professors to help himprofessionally organize a medical conference. Itwasnt long before she saw an opportunity toorganize conferences for medical professionals asa business. So in 1984, as a young medical student,Amany boldly and confidently startedInternational Medical Conferences, the firstcompany in Egypt, Africa and the Arab worldwith this specialty.

I had no experience in business and only 5000Egyptian pounds to get things started! Sheapproached the Egyptian Society of YoungDoctors, of which she was a member, and askedthem for a small office space. She lost LE 600 onher first conference but gained a lot of experienceand learned useful lessons.

From all the medical conferences she went on toorganize, under the operating name CongressService Center, she learned that Egypt was startingto encourage private sector companies, so sheasked herself why dont I start a medical supplycompany? She did some research, identified thebiggest medical equipment supply companies inthe world, of which Siemens was one, and

proceeded to try to get market rights to a productline of medical equipment.

I got an appointment with the head of Siemens,went to Germany to meet with him, and sold himon the idea of giving me, this young womanEgyptian doctor, distribution rights for theirproducts in the Egyptian market. I had the will, Ihad the education, and if you dont ask, youllnever have the opportunity to be told no. Youhave to ask.

Of course she had to have a business plan toclose the deal, but sought the help she needed inputting this together and in 1998 started CairoScientific Corporation as a share-holdingcompany, soliciting equity investments from agroup of partners, primarily family members andfriends. To finance working capital she obtained a

line of credit from one of Egypts banks. She alsohad to negotiate credit facilities for customersbuying her equipment, which she did through hersuppliers and the bank.

Cairo Scientific Corporation now has 46employees, turnover of LE 35 million and handles40 different brands of medical equipment andsupplies, including ultrasound machines anddiagnostic units. Siemens is still the biggest part ofthe business.

Business: Cairo Scientific Corporation.

Medical equipment and supplies companymarketing to hospitals, health care facilities,medical professionals and universities in Egyptand 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 theEgyptian Business Women Association (EBWA)

Co-founder and Secretary General, AfricanSociety of Scientific Research and Technology

Africa Coordinator for the InternationalFederation of Business and Professional Women

Member, National Research Center of Egypt


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The company has aBoard of Directorsand an ExecutiveManager who nowtakes care of dailyoperations. Amanys

husband, althoughbeing very busy witha medical practice and related professionalactivities, including being a professor of Urology,also plays a leadership role in the business.

Together, in 2004, they formed the AfricanSociety of Scientific Research and Technology(ASSRT) where Amany serves as the Secretary-General. The goal of ASSRT is to promoteinvestment in scientific research and technology toimprove value-added and productivity in allsectors 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, Amanystarted the EgyptianWomen BusinessAssociation (EBWA),much to the scepticismof traditional, maledominated businessassociations that didnot understand whyshe felt the need for

such a thing. But asAmany explains, I felt

it was important to promote the youngergeneration of women entrepreneurs and to giveguidance to women who owned small andmedium enterprises so they could be moreempowered.

The EWBA has 100 members, all women whohave achieved some success in their ownbusinesses and are in a position to help thewomen entrepreneurs who are coming up behindthem. The association also supports themainstreaming of gender in the global market. Theslogan of the EBWA is Financial independencegives you the power of choice and voice. Andthat pretty much sums up Amany Asfours verystrong view.

Since networking is crucial for anyone whowants to work at regional and international levels,she has joined many organizations focused on theempowerment of women and participates activelyin these forums in Africa, Arab countries, theMediterranean region and beyond.

Among her many affiliations, Amany is alsoPresident of the African Alliance for WomenEmpowerment, President of the Afro-ArabNetwork for Women Empowerment, President ofthe Organization for Women in Trade in Egypt,President of the Business and ProfessionalWomen Egypt, and a member of the NEPADGender Task Force responsible for Trade andMarket Access. She also sits on the Board of theEgyptian Society of Voice for Mentally RetardedChildren and helps raise funds to establish aspecial village to serve these childrens needs.

Although she admits it is often a challenge, shehas been able to balance her many roles as motherof three children, entrepreneur, advocate ofwomens economic empowerment, promoter ofscience and technology, and leader of abusinesswomen association. It takes a strongsupport system which I have had to put in place,she states.

Her advice to other women who want to havetheir own businesses? First she says, education

is a must, patience, dedication and to me,believing in God. And second, you have toassume the power to achieve, to act and toimplement.


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ThourayaHelmy,Incremental

Entrepreneur

Thouraya Helmy,owner of Silk in Silk,never planned havea business of herown. Quite frankly,the thought hadnteven crossed hermind when she wasyounger. After shegraduated with herBachelor of Sciencedegree, she workedas an accountant in

a private sector wireless communications firm for

awhile and after she had children left theworkforce to stay at home.

Her entrepreneurial journey started quite byaccident. One day, a friend of hers dropped byand noticed some simple home products thatThouraya had made - clothes clips and shoeshangers - and asked if she would make some morethat she could take as gifts to people she wasgoing to visit in Canada. Her friend liked the giftsand encouraged Thouraya to make more that shecould try to sell at an upcoming fair being held ata local sporting club.

Thouraya rented half a table at the fair (for LE16) and, although nothing on her table had a pricetag of more than LE 16 per item, she took ordersworth LE 700!! Encouraged by this, sheparticipated in another fair where she had thegood fortune to meet the then Minister of SocialAffairs who invited her to join the productivefamilies project.

So, in 1992, with LE 50 of her own money, shestarted a tiny production unit in her house. Herobjective at first was just to make better use of her

time and to earn some extra money. She begandesigning and drawing patterns for new productstyles, scrimping wherever she could by buyingremnants of cloth from tailors to save on costs.She grew bit by bit. She hired one worker to helpher and then another. Eventually, she had to takeover another room in her mother-in-laws place.As she gradually expanded her product line toinclude embroidered bed sheets, pillowcases and

towels, she needed financing and was successful inobtaining a small loan from the Social Fund forDevelopment (SFD). With this she was able topurchase better equipment and improve herproduction quality.

Eventually thedemand for herproducts grew tothe point where sheneeded a properproduction facility.She took anotherSFD loan and afterlots of planning wasable to open hernew factory in the6th of October Cityin 2000.

Along the way, she faced many challenges:limited financial resources, complex governmentprocedures for licensing, and a banking systemthat was not that interested in dealing with smallenterprises on their terms. She stresses howimportant persistence and her willingness to facechallenges were in helping to overcome anydifficulties. I kept my eye on the vision I had, ofwhat I was trying to achieve. And I had theemotional support of my family and my husbandbehind me.

But this budding entrepreneur also had otherassistance the loans from the SFD, workshopsorganized by the Women Business DevelopmentCentre (WBDC) that she attended, andopportunities to participate in international fairs,particularly the specialized fairs facilitated by theIndustrial Modernization Center (IMC).

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 OctoberCity (factory)

Employees: 28

Ph: (20) 2 7607 642; (20) 2 7610 776


Website: www.tradeegypt.com/silkinsilk


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The learning I gained from these internationalexhibitions was invaluable. The WBDC alsoassisted her in developing her website onwww.cleostore.com, giving her business and herproducts much more exposure.

Silk in Silk in now a thriving business with 28employees, more than three times the number ithad in 2000. Sixty percent of the workers arewomen, and the company offers training annuallyto 12 students from the Mubarak-Kohl project.

Embroidered bed sheets and towels made fromEgyptian cotton have become the core part of Silkin Silks business. Thouraya markets theseproducts through fairs and exhibitions,networking, a brochure and a show room in herMohandessin 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, Thourayasbusiness was chosen as among the most successfulof 330,000 competitors at a conference onArabian Women Entrepreneurs held in Dubai.

One of the most important factors in thesuccess 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 matchmy clients needs and are of high quality. I neverstop learning from the feedback they give me andI have built up a lot of trust. But perhaps evenmore importantly, its been my own patience andcommitment. And the loyalty of my team!

As for the future, Thouraya has plans to exporther products to international markets. To preparefor this, she has recently purchased newequipment that will professionalize both thequality and packaging of her products so they aremore competitive in non-Egyptian markets. Silk in

Silk is about to obtain a certificate of QualityProducts from France. Another milestone thatwill help bolster the companys growth!

The advice she would give to other women whowant to start a business? You have to have afuture vision. Dont underestimate your ideas. Justget started. Be persistent and face challenges. Staycommitted and build credibility. A good recipe!


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NeveenElTahri, Investing

Entrepreneur

A fter a little morethan 12 years ofheading her ownbusiness, Neveen ElTahri, Chairpersonof Delta SecuritiesEgypt, was awardedthe EnterprisingWoman of theYear at the GlobalSummit on Womenin Mexico City in2005, where she was

also recognized for Global Leadership. This

followed her Working Woman of the Yearaward presented in Washington in 2000.

The daughter of a diplomat and the eldest ofthree girls, she spent much of her childhood livingin places like Panama, Lebanon, Finland andLondon as her father followed diplomaticpostings. Her family returned to Cairo when shewas 15 and Neveen graduated from the Faculty ofEconomics and Political Science at CairoUniversity in 1980.

From there, she started a banking career with

Chase National Bank; hired as a teller but quicklypromoted to credit officer, and by 1992, wasAssistant General Manager of Corporate Bankingin charge of petroleum, electronics and tourismsectors. She resigned in mid-1992, deciding thatshe literally did not want to work anymore. So Istayed home for a while, spending time with mychildren, drying and setting flowers, doing potteryand visiting my two younger sisters in Paris andLondon.

But as Neveen is quick to point out, I am aworkaholic. I enjoy working. I enjoy accom-

plishing. I donthave

to do things. I like to dothings. After a few months, she started doingsome consulting. Then a relative told her aboutthe new Capital Markets Law that had been passedby the government to regulate Egypts capitalmarkets and suggested that she should apply forone of the brokerage licenses. Capital marketswere close to Neveens banking experience and soshe applied for and received one of the first

licenses in the country. The cost of a brokeragelicense at that time was LE 250,000, of which shehad to pay 25 percent upfront.

In July 1994, with the counsel of her brother-in-law, an auditor who helped with all thedocumentation required, she started DeltaStockbrokers as a shareholding company with herfather and her husband as partners. I knewnothing about the brokerage business but no oneelse did either so we were all competing at thesame level. Her most difficult challenge,interesting enough to her, was not being takenseriously by anyone in the industry!

As stock market investing increased inpopularity, more brokers entered the market and itquickly became crowded. Neveen had learned alittle about the business on her own in the

beginning, but after five or six months, shedecided to bring in institutional partners, whichwould require her astute negotiating skills andmore capital.

Even the bank where I worked for many yearswould not take the risk. It was a dear colleaguewho headed HSBC who decided to give me acredit line with my family members asguarantors. With additional capitalization, shewas able to bring in her first foreign investororders.

Business: Delta Securities Egypt

Brokerage firm offering a range of brokerage,bookkeeping and research services to select retailclients as well as individual and institutionalinvestors

Year started: 1994

Location: 31 Geziret El Arab St., Mohandessin

Ph: (20) 2 3000 301

Employees: 80

Revenue: In excess of LE 50 million


Website: www.delta-securities.comAffiliations: Board member of the GeneralAuthority for Investment (GAFI); the EgyptianArab Land Bank; and Telecom Egypt; Ex-member of the Board of the Cairo andAlexandria Stock Exchanges

Country Representative of ABN-AMRO Bank inEgypt


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Over the 1996-97 period, the EgyptianAmerican Bank (EAB) and American ExpressBank (AEB) both invested in Delta. This increasein capital had the effect of diluting Neveensownership share, but it also brought considerablestrength to her company, something she needed in

order to position herself competitively in theindustry.

Her companys relationship with these investorslasted until 1999 when she convinced them to selltheir shares to Dutch Bank ABN-AMRO, aninvestment bank with considerable experience inglobal markets. With this strategic partner on side,she established an asset management division tomanage individual and corporate portfolios ofEgyptian equities and put her company on a solidprofessional basis to compete in the marketplacewith proper systems and know-how.

Neveen, like most entrepreneurs, hasexperienced business ups and downs. When thecapital markets went into a slump in 2001, she hadto downsize considerably, laying off employees,moving to smaller offices, and compensating forher declining brokerage business by providingadvisory and financial consulting services. Late in2002, ABN-AMRO decided to divest its Egyptoperations and Neveen bought back their shares.Delta Securities was a family business again!

Since then, she has reorganized the business increased its capital, hired more employees andput more sophisticated management and financialsystems in place. The market has forced me tomove from the boutique I wanted, to continue tomanage a large organization.

Today, Delta Securities operates with two sistercompanies, Delta Asset Management and DeltaCapital Investments, and has a total of 80employees. A long way from the mere seven staffshe started with in 1994. Over half of heremployees are women. For the year ending in

2006, her total revenue was in excess of LE 50million.

But she isnt willing to stop there. I want a fullinvestment bank that has a strong local presence,with alliances in the Arab Region extending fromthe Gulf to El Magreb. To achieve this, she willbring in the right management to create a holdingcompany for the three Delta companies andexpand her operations from there.

On being a woman in amale-dominated industry,

Neveen comments, Itstough, because they under-estimate your capabilities.But at the same time, thattoughness is the reason Ilikely succeeded. If theyunderestimate you, then itis quite easy to outsmarteverybody else aroundyou. And succeed in amale-dominated profession, she has! She is thefirst woman to serve on the Board of the Cairoand Alexandria Stock Exchanges! She also

founded the Egyptian Capital MarketsAssociation.

She advises women wanting to start a business,Be patient. But most importantly, put the rightcapital structure in place with the rightshareholders, be sure of your strategy, and chooseyour senior management very carefully. And forher final point, she adds, In my experience,women wont achieve as much if support fromtheir husband is not there. Certainly part of myown success is due to the fact that I have a verysupportive and understanding husband.


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RandaIbrahimAbdou,

ProfessionalEntrepreneur

Randa IbrahimAbdou, Founderand CEO ofMarketing Mix andthe co-founder ofCreative Lab, grewup in Cairo, thedaughter of auniversity professorand writer, and astay-at-home momwho was active inEgyptian politics.

They taught her that, nothing in life comes easy,and that she would have to work for the thingsshe wanted.

Her entrepreneurial flair became evident at avery early age. When I was a child, I used to readtwo books a day. In the morning, I would buy abook for 15 piasters, then by midday, sell thebook for 11 piasters, save up my proceeds, and gobuy another one, Randa laughs.

With a Bachelor of Arts in MassCommunication from the American University inCairo and a Master of Science in International

Marketing from the University of Strathclyde inScotland, she was quickly scooped up by themultinationals after graduation. She gainedexperience as an Account Executive at AmericanaAdvertising, a Market Research Planning Managerat Proctor & Gamble Egypt, and the MarketingManager at PepsiCo Foods Egypt.

Her decision to start a business was promptedin 1996 when PepsiCo Foods offered her a movefrom the marketing department into businessdevelopment. Wanting to stay in the marketingend of the business, which she loved, she startedthinking there might be an opportunity to carveout a niche for a new kind of marketing supportcompany in Egypt, one that would serve theunmet needs of local companies that could notafford to have their own in-house marketingdepartments despite being in great need ofmarketing and brand-building support.

As the potential to have her own companybecame more real in her mind, she decided to takethe plunge, quit her job and started MarketingMix, Egypts first private marketing consultancybusiness created by a practitioner withmultinational marketing experience, as she

describes it.

Her friends thought she was crazy! She wastrading a safe job with a steady pay cheque for anuncertain future with no guarantee of ultimatesuccess! Randa admits that the decision was notwithout risks. Although I believed in myself andI was confident I could do it, she confides, I didkeep asking myself, what if I fail then what?But soon she was approached by her first clientand from that point on stayed focused on servingthe client well and building the business.

I started from home, she says. I had mycomputer, my phone, my fax I didnt need muchstart-up investment. For the first six months sheworked alone. It was tough having to doeverything all by myself, she admits, but Icouldnt afford to hire anyone, and I knew that Iwas building something for me.

Early in 1997, when she really needed to bringin someone with marketing expertise to help her,she convinced, Mohamed Khalifa, a man she hadmet while working at PepsiCo to join her as apartner. And in 1999, the growing company took

in a third partner, Ahmed Abdoun.

Businesses: Marketing Mix; Creative Lab

Marketing consultancy firm and advertisingagency

Years started: 1996, 2001

Location: 28 Tiba, 5th Floor, Mohandessin

Employees: 28

Volume of business: Totalclient marketingbudgets approaching LE 75 million

Ph: (20) 012 1042 189Email: [email protected]

Website: www.creativelab-adv.com


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The decision to have partners was a crucial onefor Randa, but in hindsight, she says, It was thesmartest thing I did in building the business. First,they took some of the load of growing thebusiness off of my shoulders and second, theybrought their own unique skills and expertise to

the Marketing Mix. Making them partners alsoreduced the risk that they would leave thecompany.

In 2001, the three partners started a sistercompany, Creative Lab, to be the advertising armof Marketing Mix. Today, the two companiesemploy 28 people and base their earnings onclients marketing budgets exceeding LE 75million. Randa is very proud of the fact that hercompanies work has led to significant marketgrowth for the majority of her client firms.

However, the business has not been without itsups and downs. In 2002, Marketing Mix lost amajor client that accounted for about 60 percentof its income. It was a dark day for us, but thenext day I said to everyone, this is life. Lets goand get new business and learn a lesson fromthis. So they diversified their client base toinclude a number of smaller accounts in a varietyof different sectors so the ups and downs of onesector wouldnt have such an impact on thebusiness. Now, if we lose a client, no problem we have plenty of others, and the impact is not assignificant.

The key to success of Randas companies is thestrong professional reputation for deliveringeffective marketing solutions in a highlyprofessional and ethical manner. You have to

build your business on values, no matter what ittakes. You may encounter short-term financiallosses along the way when you stick to yourvalues, and you may be tempted to compromisethem, but in the long term it will pay off. Thesevalues are important in Egypt, as they areeverywhere, she says.

What about future plans? How to growregionally is the one thing that keeps me awake atnight, says Randa. We want to become the firstEgyptian marketing consultancy to becomeestablished in the Gulf Region, while stillmaintaining the high level of quality that we havehere in Cairo.

Her advice to other women wanting to start abusiness? Learn first, gain experience, and thenstart the business. Going into business withoutexperience increases your chance of failure. Anddont be afraid to invest in people and to dowhatever it takes to get the right partners andemployees on board.


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AzzaElMahdy,Flowering

Entrepreneur

Azza El Mahdy,owner of AudrianaFlowers, with eightgreenhouses locatedjust outside ofCairo, is a pioneer inthe growing offlowers in Egypt.But until aboutseven years agogrowing flowers hadonly been a hobby.

Although she was

born in Egypt, shespent much of her childhood in the United Stateswhere her father was pursuing a PhD program.Her mother, who loved gardening, died whenAzza was 13, the year after the family returned toEgypt. But fond memories of her mother growingflowers in the beauty of her back yard gardenmade an ever-lasting impression on Azza as ayoung girl.

She went on to study literature and Americandrama at Cairo University and during her secondyear of studies, started working part-time as anairline hostess, which ended up being her full-timeoccupation for 20 years. On her travels to variousparts of the world, she would buy flower seeds,and experiment with growing them in her ownback yard garden.

After 20 years of working, Azza married for thesecond time. Her new husband insisted that shequit working and so she left her job to stay athome. The marriage turned out to be a failure andwhen she finally divorced, Azza decided to turnher flower-growing hobby into a business as a wayto survive. In late 1999, Azza recalls, I boughta half feddan of land on Mansoureya Road, built asmall house, hired two workers, and set aboutgrowing flowers for the local market.

She faced many challenges during the first fouryears of the business. I really didnt have anybusiness management skills and it was almostimpossible to find professionals with know-howin flower growing. To improve her management

skills, she attended a number of seminars at theWomen Business Development Center. But whathelped her most was participating in study tours toKenya and Holland to visit other flower growersand meet with flower growing experts who couldpoint to studies and publications that helped with

the transfer of technical and professional know-how. These study tours were organized by theHEIA, an organization that promotes theexporting of agricultural products with projectsupport from USAID.

The Flower Growers Council within HEIA has21 flower growers Azza is the only woman inthe group! In fact, as she emphatically declares, Iam the only woman I know growing flowers inEgypt. Its not an easy job. Flowers are verysensitive. You have to check on them every day.Its a seven-day workweek. You have to work

hard. And theres a lot of capital investment.

Four years into theventure she decidedto try her hand atexporting whichmeant expandingher operation. Soshe rented five morefeddans of land, theminimal she says isneeded for a trulyviable flower-growing enterprise. With the help of

HEIA, she did a study of the market demand inHolland and Kenya. But to meet the demands ofan export market she would have to have to investmore capital to upgrade her greenhouses and builda cool storage facility, plus learn more of the insand outs of exporting procedures.

Business:Audriana Flowers

Grower and wholesaler of exclusive rarecollections 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 Councilwithin HEIA


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To obtain thefinancing she wouldneed for theexpansion, she tookin a partner, GehanEl Baghdady, who

was in the vegetablegrowing businessand so understoodsome of the growth

challenges. A year later, they obtained their firstorder from the Netherlands and in January 2004,Audriana Flowers showed up in the cut flowersinternational gallery, a big event for the company.

Unfortunately, Azza considers her exportingattempt a disappointment. My freight costswere high, I was paying a high import cost on theseeds I was bringing in from Holland, and I found

it hard to compete with growers in Kenya andSouth America. I was not only losing money but Ihad lots of other problems including findingworkers competent in supervising mygreenhouses. So I abandoned my exporting plan,at least for awhile. When this happened, Gehanleft the partnership and Azza continued on herown.

Audriana Flowers now has eight greenhouses,employs a total of eight employees and producesand 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.

As for the future? Azza would still like toexpand, even try exporting again, but this time toArab countries with customized flowers meetingclients specific requirements. Right now, Azzasays, I feel that Im doing something Im happywith and Im proud of the fact that I can help thepeople who work for me by training them andgiving them knowledge.

Her advice toother women whowant to have abusiness is simple.If shes in theflower business, shehas to be patientbecause it takes a lotof time and she hasto work hard.


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Dr.AmiraBoshra,Scientific

Entrepreneur

D r. Amira Boshra,President of Quali-Beauty Egypt, didntgrow up wanting tohave her ownbusiness in factshe wanted tobecome a dentist.But her father, whoalways pushed herto be number one,motivated in her adrive to be the best

at whatever she did.

In university she had many interests. Afterstudying French in undergraduate school, sheentered the Faculty of Science in Biochemistry atAin Shams University and then pursued adoctorate in pharmacy.

When she graduated with her PhD, she had theoption to join the faculty as a professor butinstead chose to work in medical laboratories.Over the next 10 years, she gained product andmarketing management experience working in

large multinational companies - Yardleys, LOrealand Estee Lauder - in England and France.

Then Amira decided to return to Egypt and starther own laboratory that would make and sell a lineof cosmetics for the Egyptian market that shewould formulate herself. I was a biochemist, Ihad learned a lot from the big companies aboutproduct quality and how to manage, so it was easyfor me to manufacture cosmetics. And I reallywanted to do something on my own.

She had bought a piece of land in BadrIndustrial City in 1992, but didnt start buildingher factory until 1995. It took the next five yearsto 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 hardevery day. I really wanted to do this. I wantedsuccess. But if it hadnt been for God, my

husband and my own determination, I wouldnthave gotten though it all!

It took a lot of capital investment. Amira neededabout LE 700,000 for the project, most of whichcame from her own savings, plus a small loanfrom the Social Fund for Development (SFD).Finally, the factory opened in late 1999, and Quali-Beauty Egypt was officially born!

She started out small, in the beginning producingonly hennas and powders with no additives. Shegradually diversified her product line to includeshampoos, hair balsams, acetones, and showergels, products she formulated based on an analysisof the behavioursand needs ofEgyptian womenand lots of

experimentation inher research lab.Initially, she alsohired and trainedworkers herself, butsince has been ableto employ a qualifiedPhD in her factoryto monitor qualitycontrol in theproduction.

Amira credits the National Council for Womens

Women Business Development Center (WBDC)for providing tremendous support. They helpedme with marketing lessons, whatever I needed,they were there.

Business: Quali-Beauty Egypt

Manufacture and wholesale distribution ofshampoos, creams, soaps, oils (under Chantalbrand name) and liquid soap (under Marmarbrand name) to supermarkets, pharmacies andwholesalers

Year started: 1999Location: Badr Industrial City

Employees: 15

Turnover: LE 300,000

Ph: (20) 2 8641 212


Website:www.cleostore.com


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In February 2006, the WBDC entered into acontract with the National Post Authority todeliver businesswomens products to customersin governorates all over the country. This was animportant event for all businesswomen in Egypt.In the case of Amiras company, it has meant the

delivery of two tons of her product to the Sohaggovernorate. The SFD is also eager to help herwith whatever she needs.

In 2007, Quali-Beauty Egypt has 15 full-timeemployees and hires casual workers to deal withpeak periods. Her capital investment has increasedto almost LE 3 million. She produces 29 differentproducts under the Chantal and Marmarlabels shampoos, soaps, creams and lotions, oils,and liquid detergents. Three of her employeeswork in sales along with Amira, who also spends alot of time on market development.

I am learning the market. I do lots of marketresearch on the Egyptian consumers needs andspend a lot of time traveling to see whats new inother places to compare. Establishing her brandsin the market is critical. I advertise everywhere in magazines, on FM radio, and do lots of fairsand exhibitions to build exposure for my productlines and find distributors. Delivering highquality products in a well and finely designedpackage is her main strategy for distinguishing herproducts in local and international markets.

Quali-Beauty Egypt sells to Oscars and otherlarge supermarkets and pharmacies in Egypt. InJuly 2006, she secured the Carrefours account.Being in Carrefours is a big deal for mycompany. They ask for new orders every week.Although she admits its expensive to get listed as

a supplier to the big chains. I have to pay themfor every product they shelve, Amira states.

As for the futuregrowth potential ofQuali-Beauty Egypt,Amira has big plans.She is currently onlyusing 600 squaremetres of her 1200square metre factoryso has the capacityto double her

production. I wantto go to every single pharmacy, every singlesupermarket, and have my products on theirshelves. I want to have franchises with strongpartners and open Chantal stores everywhere.Her biggest challenge is establishing a strongerdistribution system.

Amiras advice toother women whowant to start abusiness is straight-forward. Make sure

you choose some-thing you love andwhere you haveknow-how. Neverstop thinking. Youhave to be thinkingall the time.


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HebaElShenawey,Fast

trackingEntrepreneur

W ith her CairoUniversity Dentistrydegree in hand,Heba El Shenawey,who grew up inPort Said, spentabout a year inprivate dental prac-tice before discover-ing that she didntreally want to be adentist after all! Sowhen she was

offered a position with Plaxo, the big drugcompany, she started working for them in productmanagement.

In the world of private industry, she found thatwomen wore more classic dress styles than shewas used to. Unable to find much of what shewanted, in a wide range of styles and sizes, withinEgypt, she expanded her search to places likeIstanbul and Paris, where she found a muchbroader selection of the right clothes for her newwork environment. And thats when the idea cameto her, why not import some of these clothes and

retail them in Cairo to other women like me? Sowhile still in her job at Plaxo, she rented a small120 square metre space in the Heliopolis area,imported about 500 pieces of inventory, andopened Femina Ladies Wear. It was October2000.

After four or five months, Heba realized thatshe would have to commit to the business fulltime if she wanted to build a brand for her nascentstore. So she quit her Plaxo job and became a full-time entrepreneur with four employees.

Before long, she discovered that her imported

womens wear didnt quite match the preferencesof her Egyptian customers. Jackets were too short,pants werent long enough. She would have todesign 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 asecond store in Mohandessin, this time with 300square metres. Then Heba set about designing

styles of the garments she wanted, includingaccessories.

Within a year of starting her first shop inHeliopolis, she opened a factory in a small rentedapartment in Giza, starting with 15 employees.She brought in specialists and experts to train herworkers in quality production and enrolled incourses in marketing, retailing, and fashiondesigning because, as she states, that part wasntmy base I just had the talent to choose goodclothes! She still commits to taking at least twocourses a year and goes to lots of exhibitions tolearn from other experts.

After the factory started, everything changed -my colors, my styles - and women started comingto shop at my stores from all over Egypt. Eagerto meet the growing demand from women in

other parts of the country, she soon opened athird retail outlet in Alexandria.

Initially I just wanted a small shop. I didntwant a factory and a big store. But when I sawthat women needed my designs, I felt it was myrole to make products of high quality, fashionabledesign and reasonable price.

By 2007 she had six stores, four in Cairo andtwo in Alexandria, had moved her factory into amuch bigger rented space and secured awarehouse. She employs 212 people in hermanufacturing, distribution and retail operations,

working in two shifts a day. Sales have grownexponentially from LE 284,000 in 2001 to overLE 14 million in 2006.

Business: Femina for Ready Made Garments

Design, manufacture and retail of fashionableclothing for the Egyptian woman through achain of branded and company-owned retailstores

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 BusinessWomen Association


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Hebas factory produces 30,000 garments eachseason a full line of casual, smart casual, classicand evening wear, a line of modern hijabs forMuslim women, plus accessories. She deals withsuppliers in Egypt, Turkey, Hong Kong andChina. And because her garment company is for

women, most of her managers are also women. Ilike the fact that I can give young women anopportunity to work in the private sector so theycan learn responsibility and gain experience.

So how did this young 30-year old woman withno business experience make all of this happen?To raise the LE 100,000 it took to open her veryfirst store, she pulled out all stops - sold her car,took all of her savings, borrowed privately, andarranged a credit facility. She rented her factoryspace in order to minimize the capital investmentand used a credit facility to pay for machines,

equipment and inventory.

But as she says, Itwasnt easy to createa new brand. In thebeginning I hadproblems with cashflow and had toborrow money frommy husband andfather to get methrough some crisisperiods. Heba is

quick to admit thather husband was a

big help in other ways as well. With hisbackground in accounting and retailing, he wasable to offer her useful advice, as well as take careof problems with the business licensing processand the legal and tax issues. She has been able tofinance her recent growth by reinvesting herprofits.

The key to her success so far has been a well-executed strategy that includes attendinginternational fashion trade shows to stay abreastof the latest designs, colors and fabrics; advancedstock management systems; a just-in-timedistribution system; innovative merchandising;and employee development programs.

Heba has big plans for the future. First inEgypt, I am planning to move my factory to aFree Trade Zone to ease problems with customsprocedures on my imported fabrics andaccessories. Plus, I want to open up more retail

branches in Cairo and Alexandra and other areaswithin Egypt. To supply the new stores, I willneed more production capacity. I have 50machines now. I plan to have 200! Second, I wantFemina to be an international brand. I amnegotiating franchising agreements in Romaniaright now and want to do the same thing in Jordanand maybe Saudi Arabia.

Theres obviously no stopping this young fast-tracking entrepreneur!

Her advice to other

women who want tostart a business? Evenif you start a very smallbusiness, you must doeverything right. Atfirst I made a lot ofmistakes. You have todo things in the rightway, which is often thehard way. But if thingsare done right in thebeginning, and yousucceed, it will be

easier to grow.


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AbouttheSmallandMediumEnterprisePolicyDevelopmentProject

(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 InternationalDevelopment Research Center (IDRC). The projects purpose is to support the Government of Egypt,through the Ministry of Finance and other partners, in the development of improved collaborativeimplementation mechanisms for policies, legislation, and regulations supporting micro, small and mediumenterprise (M/SME) development. It commenced as a four-year project in June 2000 and was extended toJuly 2006. Another extension to January 2008 is intended to implement policies developed throughout thefirst phases of the project.

The overall impact of the project is to have an improved and gender-sensitive policy environment forM/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 sensitivepolicies, legislation and regulations that facilitate M/SME development.

2. Improved gender-sensitive knowledge and information made available to stakeholders on M/SMEdevelopment 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 genderissues in SME development. One of the indicators to measure the projects performance is reduction inobstacles to the full participation of women in SME activities. To this end, SMEPol is conducting a genderperspective review of selected previously conducted studies to identify gender-specific issues which need tobe addressed in areas related to financing and legislations and procedures affecting the establishment andgrowth of M/SMEs. The Project carries out consultations with other donor projects to grasp their hands-onexperience 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 conferencesfacilitated to discuss policy issues and recommendations.

In 2006, the Project created a Discussion Forum for the purpose of examining methods of enhancingwomens 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 contactMinistry of Finance

SMEPol Project1 Bostan St., Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt

Tel.: (202) 5789443 5789129Fax: (202) 7730139

E-mail: [email protected]:www.sme.gov.eg

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Egy Women Entrepreneurship