Egypt was the last place to nurture her entrepreneurial enterprise, if ever she planned, for UK – based Angela Armsby, who found herself packing her bags on a two-year stint accompanying her husband’s new professional commitment to the Land of the Pharaohs. The exotic fascination didn’t take much time to turn into eerie fright and dismay, once the truth hit home. The real Egypt was a far cry from the ones in the travel brochures. Bored of her stifling new disposition as a stay-home mom, her experience as a buyer for a multinational wholesale company and her entrepreneurial instincts came to the fore as she sat looking at her husband’s fine cotton worskshirts. She remembers, “I had to do something to change my situation. How could I make Egypt work for me? I could do something with cotton. The stripes and checks mixed together gave me inspiration to design cotton nightwear and loungewear. I live in loungewear at home and knew there was a gap in the market for funky, good quality garments in this category. In addition, being in Egypt would enable me to utilize Egyptian cotton as a resource, which is some of the best quality cotton in the world. “
But Egypt is, to put it quite simply, a woman entrepreneur’s nightmare. A recent WB report says that “companies owned by women in Egypt need an average of 86 weeks to resolve disputes through the judicial system, as opposed to 54 weeks for companies owned by men. In its assessment of the gender situation in Egypt in 2003, which was updated this year, it indicated the existence of “restrictions on the participation of women in the labour force in Egypt.” While women entrepreneurs are a minority in most of the world, their presence in the Middle East and North African region (MENA) has been much lower in comparison to not only other middle-income regions but also predominantly Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Angela got her education firsthand! “Egypt has a huge textile manufacturing sector, but it is very unproductive and inefficient after many years of state control. It was not simply a case of approving a sample and then waiting for the production, I found ourselves having to educate the factory and its employees to get the results that we wanted. At one point, I found myself having to supervise the production of every pair of pyjamas in 50°c heat whilst I was pregnant. On another occasion, the factory owner decided to start demolishing the factory whilst our half made goods were still on the machines!” The part about perseverance being the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did, was written about Angela.
Angelily was established in 2008 offering chic, stylish nightwear and loungewear using luxury Egyptian cotton. Their unique range, from sophisticated striped pyjamas to beautifully soft cotton tops, is impeccably designed incorporating fine tailoring with a fresh, contemporary twist. She has been establishing the business for two years , built up a strong fan base amongst the local and ex-pat community and also established distribution in Australia and Canada. Angelily successfully set up its UK division early this year, and is taking part in its first major putsch in her home market, participating in the ‘Spirit of Christmas Fair’ in UK, in November 2010.
Angela reaffirms her faith in the quality of her products, “Product quality and customer service are of the utmost importance to me, and the immediate focus is to generate more public awareness of the brand whilst also developing sales through our website, (she started trading online in March 2010)and through upmarket boutiques and department stores in the UK and overseas. We have already generated some wholesale sales in Canada and Australia, and are looking for further opportunities in this respect. Our ultimate goal is to have are own offline stores, in particular, because of our focus on quality and service, this would enable us to control the entire retail experience.”
Angela wouldn’t want to change what Egypt taught her in the past 5 years. “Everyday has its obstacles, but when someone buys one your products and loves it, that makes it all worthwhile.”
With quality and determination as the cornerstones, Angelily remains one of the fine examples of entrepreneurship in retail experience.
AFP reports on the increasing initiatives to raise the standard of living in Egypt with concerted entrepreneurial activity at the community level.
