STAND Up! has selected 10 textile and fashion start-ups to join the access to finance in Egypt. After the call for applications that was closed on the 15^th of April 2022 SEKEM Sustainable Development, which is the Egyptian partner of the project, selected a group of entrepreneurs to develop their financial literacy skills, get knowledge on how to raise funds and get chances to meet with local and regional investors to potentially secure funding opportunities.

The selected entrepreneurs will participate in a 10-days-long training that will focus on building the financial projections of their start-ups, understanding readiness, trends and opportunities in the investment landscape. The training program in Egypt will be followed by two events organised in the country to provide investment feedback to the entrepreneurs and receive local and regional exposure with potential investors. Find more information about the contents of the training and the pitching events in this article.

The initiatives selected work on different materials such as the organic cotton, dyed textiles free of chemicals or sustainable leather. Final products can be bags, jackets, jeans or dresses, including ideas which focuses on digital marketing and technology, as for instance online marketplaces. The problems they try to face is the pollution of non-degradable dyes, the waste of leftovers from manufacturing factories or the lack of empowerment from female workers in Egypt.

Meet the 10 start-ups and entrepreneurs selected

Littless: They aim to produce uniforms for schools and universities in Egypt, creating skin-friendly pieces made out of organic cotton. Littless will implement a system that allows customers to return the clothes once the children have outgrown them receiving a discount for the next purchase when the returned garments are in good condition. They also organize fundraising campaigns and sell clothes to families with low income. Ibrahim Yousry is the male entrepreneur behind this project.

Dija Mo: It draws inspiration from the Egyptian culture translating it in trendy and eco-friendly designs by adopting slow fashion concept. They use all the leftovers from the manufacturing to make new textiles and recycle them in new designs. The brand presents Egyptian heritage in a trendy and modern way. It also uses eco-friendly materials as well as zero-waste techniques. The female entrepreneur behind the project is Khadiga Mostafa Hossameldin.

Green Fashion: It’s a start-up that collects cuttings and leftover fabric from factories and upcycles them into fashionable products like bags, jackets and uses them in revamping jeans. The start-up also uses post-consumer waste to produce products with higher value creating their own biodegradable clothes dyes that are sold to factories. Green Fashion also empowers single mothers and female workers in Bel Misht village by providing work opportunities and giving them a fair wage to enhance their lifestyle. Hadeer Shalaby is the female entrepreneur behind this project.

Cavani Fabric: Cavani fabric provides 100% naturally dyed Egyptian textiles that are 100% chemicals free. Their fabrics are dyed using plants with a boho, trendy and healthy style. One of the materials used is cotton, that helps to produce bedsheets and other products. The female entrepreneur is 39 years old and her name is Moshira Elamrawy.

Fatma Mohammed: The project is in a very ideation-stage, designed by Fatma Mohammed, a very young female entrepreneur in Egypt aged 28. Her product aims at restoring furniture using sustainable textiles.

Somaia Abolezz: Somaia Abolezz is a young female entrepreneur under 30 years old. Her brand is working on doing wearable art fashion, using organic fabrics. Art is enhancing mental health and being shared on our daily basis products give happiness and well-being.

Eman Soliman Leather’s: It’s a small company specialized in manufacturing each of its leather handmade products to ensure the quality of its products received by the customer. They offer smart products that solve customer issues and make people lives better, with high-quality customized genuine leather at a reasonable price.

Linenya: Linenya is a modest wear fashion brand that is facing a problem with the marketing campaigns, studying the customer lifestyle to be able to reach them. Reem Latif is the young entrepreneur, under 25 years old, behind this innovative idea.

Dayra: Dayra is an online marketplace for selling high-quality pre-owned clothing at the best price point and the go-to destination to monetize unwanted/or unsold high-quality clothes for the purpose of both making a profit and selling for a cause. It is transferring wastes into funds to support community service organizations and contributing to the circular economy by reducing the amount of fashion wastes caused by the fast fashion retailers

Darjee: Darjee manufactures customized on-demand dresses/outfits while ensuring high quality. Their mission would be to use the power of technology in the fashion field; where they develop an interactive website when you can do all steps of making a dress online. Mai Hossam is the young female entrepreneur behind this fantastic idea.