Dear going locallers,
Seeing as this idea has grown, it is time to let it go. Since it can’t continue to live on this blog and needs a room of it’s own.
As a first step, we have moved to facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=51852282115
Please check out the group, join it and let us know what you think.
During the upcoming week, the initiative will also have a blog to call it’s own, hence the delay in posting success stories.
Also, another housekeeping note, I’d love to hear all your input on the initiative, logo, slogans, ideas, actual experiences with local products you’d like to share, etc.
Kindly e-mail us at buyegypt@gmail.com
Also if you were kind enough to blog about it, e-mail us the link so it may be featured in the upcoming blog.
Take care y’all!
Salam!
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Darling, you are cooking up a storm! This is absolutely awesome!! Much respect!! And of course, we’re all with you!
great intentions with your buy local initiative but i have reservations about its effectiveness.
if the goal is to encourage the emergence of world-class egyptian products and brands this is best served by creating a fair and globally competitive environment that requires local companies to compete and excel locally and internationally. think best global practices . would azza fahmy have gone on to its spectacular international success had she emerged in a market where sub-par products could survive because of nationalistic buying habits?
if the goal is to support egyptian workers then is it really fair to bias our buying habits in a way that discriminates against those that work in egypt (or outside of egypt for that matter) for multinationals or non-egyptians brands?
don’t get me wrong, wherever i am, given a choice between to equal (or close to) offerings i will always go local. i take my espressos at cilantro / beano’s over costa when convenient but only because to me their offerings are equal (indeed superior in this case imho).
Avant_Caire,
If you read the facebook group posted items then you will see that no one says “buy Egytian products even if they are bad”- We Egyptians should prefer local products over other products if they are comparable in quality-
Many Egyptians buy foreign products just bec they are foreign. So what we now should really do is to look at our local champions like cilantro, smileys, beans, etc and support them. If they have a strong market in Egypt then they can grow internationally..
As for Azza Fahmy, I adore and love this person. TO my knowledge the prime reason for her to move global was that she wanted her brand to have a stronger image in the Middle East because the “3odat Khawaga” complex made Middle Eastern say “Azza Fahmy is good but we prefer Bulgari or any other foreign brand” so when she went global, the local markets across the Arab World recognized her more then b4 going global.
And it is not discriminating any Multinational companies who operate in Egypt. We want a free market but we have to create more local businesses and more local business can only be archieved if we consume local products. Cilantro now opened in London and they plan to open in several other countries and they could have never made it international if the local market in Egypt wouldn’t have pushed them.. They are a great example and I myself pray that in 10 years we have 100 local companies who create high quality products and income for the country.
Ahmose,
my bad for not digging deeper into the terms of the initiative!
love the idea, sentiment and reasoning.
best of luck with it.
Dear commenters, allow me to direct you to the new home for this initative as it has outgrown my humble blog. Please share your thoughts at http://www.buyegypt.blogspot.com
Mo: Yeah, imagine that!
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