Meet An Entrepreneur
By Nayrouz Talaat
Asmaa el-Bakry, 24, decided to revive unique wooden tableware with the help of Hegaza, a village in Qena, Upper Egypt. EL-Bakry has a lot to say about how she started her startup Aneya, which means ‘plates’ in Classical Arabic.
EG: What made you start up
your tableware business?
AB: I have always had a passion to have my meals in unique tableware. However, I cannot find it easily in the local market. Also, I always found it hard to get unique environment-friendly tableware anywhere and if you find it, it is very expensive. I thought of bridging this gap and do more search, which is something I like doing. I found a village in Upper Egypt that is known for producing a unique wooden tableware, which can also be used as a home decor
and for keeping ornaments.
EG: Tell us about your
background.
AB: I’m a graduate in biotechnology, faculty of science, but I preferred not to work in my study field. Rather, I always wanted to have my own business with a social impact, especially conserving environment.
EG: What is different
about your business?
AB: I started Aneya with my sister a year ago. She is studying applied art, décor section. We noticed that all wooden tableware sets or wooden products are similar in design. We are always looking for new designs to revive the craft of wooden tableware. Also, our products are made of a certain type of wood that has a beautiful natural colour. It does not need polishing and harbours no insects.
EG: What are the main
challenges?
AB: I have to say that dealing with the craftsmen is very difficult as they don’t take it seriously if they find the owner is a young girl. Another challenge is how to keep the copyright of our designs as one design has been copied and spread on the market.
EG: What are the pluses and
minuses in your business so far?
AB: The ecosystem is promising for budding entrepreneurs, especially social media groups that bring together many early-stage entrepreneurs like me who still are eager to learn about marketing, management, team leadership and
finance. I think the government could do more for us by, for example, lowering the prices of booths in the handicraft exhibitions.
EG: What is your
business model?
AB: Our main revenue stream is the payment we receive on our wooden items. Prices start from LE200 to LE550 larger trays. Our costs are mainly for the materials, payments to workshop owners, marketing and packaging. The whole
process of crafting is in the village where most residents work on wooden products and in carpentry.
EG: What would you say is
your greatest achievement
to date? Future plans?
AB: So far, we are so glad that our collections have been totally sold out, even though we did not spend much on marketing, but we are keen to get a unique, high quality product.
We want to expand our client base to niche segments such as cafes, hotels, and photographers
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