Friday March 29th, 2024
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Egyptians Can Now Sell their Creations to the World Thanks to This Young Entrepreneur’s New Website

Tigarti has facilitated the process of selling Egyptian products on a global scale.

Staff Writer

Looking around online, you can find many quality Egyptian products; from jewellery, to clothes, to crafty bits and pieces that catch your eye. But looking around, which usually happens on Instagram with the use of hashtags, takes too much time and effort. Even for an aficionado. Yes, you can create your own website, but then the next problem is how to attract visitors. And on top of everything, as a customer living abroad, you’re not guaranteed that the product ships internationally.

For a vendor, on the other hand, the challenge with selling their stuff to the world is reach. Where does one start? Founder Wasil Rezk, a true entrepreneur at heart, had all these questions and issues in mind and thought “there has to be a better way”. Wasil is an Egyptian young man who crossed the Atlantic, all the way to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. to pursue his studies. He is no stranger to travel and being in different parts of the world, having lived in nine different countries, and learning a total of 4 extra languages in the process: "Travelling has allowed me to learn about different cultures and people. I noticed how generalisations and stereotypes can make us blind to the truth.”, he said, speaking to The Guardian.

The ambitious young man also started his own media outlet, Nile Scope, where he shares important issues relating to Egypt and Egyptians onto his platform. With all this going on, Wasil, a foodie at heart, manages Foodztar an Instagram page documenting the most memorable gourmet experiences he encounters in his extensive travels. There is no wasted second in the determined, motivated young man’s life.

Enough on the young entrepreneur, though, and let’s get to Tigarti. Tigarti, a Spanish-Egyptian company based in Madrid, is Egypt’s first e-commerce platform for Egyptians to be able to showcase their products to the world on one simple platform, so now even Molly from Arkansas can easily find products created with excellent Egyptian artisanship.

The user-friendly website is as simple to use for suppliers as it is for consumers. Vendors merely fill in a short registration page (none of those long-winded registrations that look more like university applications), confirm registration via e-mail, and you’re good to start uploading your creations onto the website.

For customers, browsing for products is as simple as 1,2,3. The categories are clearly divided into jewelry, fashion, electronics, ancient Egypt, art, beauty and health, books, handmade, home and garden, and real estate.

The novelty of Tigarti goes beyond merely buying and selling. At the moment, Egyptians find it difficult to sell their products abroad. As Tigarti makes this easier for sellers, there will be more of an initiative for local talent to keep creating, forming a kind of snowball effect of sellers, as the motivation to be able to sell abroad now exists. Also, everyone knows that the Egyptian currency hasn’t exactly been booming in the last decade or so, so earning hard currency is something that you deserve and can greatly benefit from.

“This idea came up when I was at my time in Georgetown [university] where I noticed all my friends were using Ebay and Amazon to buy very basic products that they can buy in the supermarket. So I thought, if everyone’s using online websites today, why can’t Egypt have its own platform? A platform where it can represent itself and present all it has, and I thought it would be something that can benefit a lot of Egyptians”, said Tigarti founder, Wasil Rezk.

The young go-getter is committed to proudly raising the Egyptian flag by promoting today’s local skills and qualities on his platform, and his ultimate mission is for the ”Made in Egypt” mark to be recognized as a sign of excellent artisanship and manufacturing. When it’s all said and done, Tigarti is aiming to be Egypt’s gateway for global markets, and to give Egyptian heritage a better name.

Impressively, the business has already partnered with over 100 vendors. “Of course, the first hundred vendors were the hardest to get. It all started sending hundreds of e-mails, making hundreds of phone calls everyday last summer. We held big events promoting the website, promoting all its benefits and features. Once you get those 100 vendors, it makes an echo and other vendors heard about it and were interested. We’ve been working with the Ministry of Commerce to find certain vendors that match our criteria, vendors that have top quality products, and that can present Egypt and Egyptian goods in a positive way, because that’s our goal at the end of the day”, he continued. Tigarti got the big sharks interested and involved, securing half a million dollar in investments, which will be used to make the Tigarti experience as smooth and seamless as possible. At the moment, Tigarti is in serious talks with the Ministry of Commerce and Trade to be officially approved as Egypt’s premier exports digital gateway. Big, big moves.

In recent times, entrepreneur influence has been exceptionally strong among youth, thanks in part to the government’s vision to recognize entrepreneurship and SMEs, greatly facilitating the process of registering a new company. Tigarti is proud to do its part in assisting the national reform program Egypt has embarked on, by indirectly marketing Egyptian manufacturing and products as well as local “creators,” allowing them to compete on a global scale. As the world is increasingly becoming more conscious and self-aware, so is Tigarti, encouraging an inclusive workplace by offering people with disabilities work opportunities, combating child labor by taking a stance against companies still utilising this, and all in all, by committing to an ethical and fair experience on this digital platform set to take Egypt by storm.

With a user-friendly platform, an already existing vendor network, future investments of half a million dollars and the motivation to keep representing Egyptian craftsmanship in a positive way, Tigarti is a breath of fresh air to the industry and is set to go a long way.

Get started with buying and selling on Tigarti here

Main image from Tigarti