Basma Tawakol, 31, started her social impact startup, Dayra (Arabic for Circle), to fill out a gap in the culture of circular fashion in Egypt. The startup does this by helping compulsive shoppers to get rid of unused clothes by selling them and donating part of the revenues to the needy.
The Egyptian Gazette interviewed Tawakol on her project, passion, challenges and achievements.
Why did you start your project?
I am a fashion lover who had a closet full of quality clothes, ones that contained brands that people cherished. I realized that I would never wear some of these clothes. There was also extreme frustration at the rising prices of fashionable clothes. All these considerations encouraged me to think of launching Dayra. I have been engaged in the civil society for over ten years. Nonetheless, the civil society is rarely involved in clothes donations; it is usually about financial support. This gave me a huge business opportunity. I created Dayra to solve a real problem and build a business with an impact, but in a market driven by commercial considerations.
Has your educational and professional background helped you take that direction?
I studied business administration at Cairo University. After graduation, I spent ten years working in startups, technology, and community service organizations. I obtained a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and innovation management from Cairo University and Cambridge University.
What are the problems you try to solve and what is your value proposition?
I try to spread the culture of circular fashion which solves the problem of the piles of clothes inside our wardrobes without any use. I make expensive brands accessible and affordable to all Egyptians. Through Dayra’s online marketplace, I keep money in consumers’ pockets and garments in the fashion loop for longer. Dayra is an online marketplace for high quality pre-owned clothes at rock bottom prices. It is the go-to destination to monetize the unwanted or unsold high quality clothes for the purpose of making profit or selling for a charity cause. The vast majority of Egyptians are in the lower middle class. To buy a fashionable pair of jeans trousers, some people may have to pay between 10 and 20% of their monthly income. At the same time, a significant volume of clothes is disposed of either by being discarded or donated. We have on average 23 million wasted value clothing items annually.
Tell us more about your process, users, and business model?
We sort the clothes, clean them, and then arrange photo shoots. Our in-house team starts pricing the items and posting them to our website. After that, customers can browse the items freely and then make orders online. We deliver the clothes to the buyers’ homes through our logistics partners. We collect the inventory by running social campaigns that support different causes and encouraging fashion designers, celebrities and wealthy consumers to give away their gently used clothes. We prepare them to be sold on our platform. A percentage of revenue goes to support our partner NGOs.
Are there challenges to your work?
Yes, we face financial challenges on the road to supporting our growth and expanding our outreach.
Is there anything you are proud to have achieved so far? What are your future plans?
We ran more than 15 impact campaigns that supported different causes in less than two years. Our charity causes went to cancer hospitals, orphanages, and homeless people. We extended clean water to the houses of the poor, and fought hunger.
Do you think the entrepreneurial ecosystem helps people like you?
Yes, for sure. Dayra was selected by an accelerator programme called ‘changelabs’. We learned a lot about how to grow the business and perfect the business model. It is getting easier now to access funding sources, reach investors and find the right cofounders from a great pool of talents in the ecosystem.
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