Bazaar Highlights ‘Made in Egypt’ Products
AUC’s Entrepreneurs’ Society (ES) and the Alumni Office joined forces on October 18 for “Made in Egypt,” a collaborative bazaar to promote 92 local startups and businesses.
The event showcased a variety of innovative ideas and products offered by AUCians and non-AUCians including, Egyptian silver accessories, handmade bags, notebooks and laptop cases, tricot work, and body lotions and soaps at the AUC Gardens.
ES usually organizes the annual exhibition but last year, the Alumni Office decided to join them.
“The Alumni Office decided to collaborate with us to support Egyptian Entrepreneurs because we both agree that they are underrated and many AUC Graduates have their own very successful startups, yet they didn’t get the attention they deserve,” said ES Organizer of ‘Made in Egypt’ event, Salma Megahed.
The Alumni Student Engagement Manager, Riham Ibrahim, stated that the event also gives an opportunity for Egyptian startups to meet their target audience in person.
ES Organizer of Made in Egypt and Fundraising Manager Aly Labena said that most of the entrepreneurs who come to exhibit their products target a specific socio-economic class.
However, they only had one requirement to accept the entrepreneurs.
“There are no qualifications for those who attend the event. Their products just need to be made in Egypt, so we are trying to push Egyptian-made products,” said Ibrahim.
Noor Al Asadi is an entrepreneur and an Architectural Engineering student who is very passionate about arts.
Although hers is a time-consuming and tiring major, she has never given up on her dream to start her own business decorating notebooks, Noorat in Arabic.
El Asadi had a booth in the ‘Made In Egypt’ event where she showcased her works.
“I started with my paintings and out of it I decided to make my own notebooks. It is inspired out of my sketches and photography, and now I am expanding to bags with my own paintings on it,” said Al Asadi.
Elia is another Egyptian startup founded by Amira Motawea, an AUC alumna with a Bachelor’s degree in Business and a concentration in Marketing. She had been working on her project for six years before starting Elia three years ago.
“Elia is a handmade genuine leather shoe brand offering limited edition pieces,” said Motawea.
She started off by producing handmades, but then she switched to manufactured products. Now, she has her own seasonal collections.
Elia offers a wide range of products like leather shoes with recycled materials, embroidery on the leather and special handmade anklets.
“This is good exposure for the new startups and if I will begin a startup, I would love to join such an event because we found out about a lot of businesses over the years through this event,” said Mechanical Engineering Senior Youssef ElHadidi.
Business Administration Senior Dina Abdelfattah also said that she likes the “vibes” of the fair and the joy of the entrepreneurs as they showcased their products.
