Women’s Fashion from Remote Egypt to the World

Dina Emad, Boho Designs – Egypt

Article | 25 November 2021
Dina Emad is a 31-year-old woman who loves fashion and women's fashion design. Dina had a dream: to become a fashion designer and to have a brand in her name. However, she has faced many challenges during her life.

Dina lived far from the capital Cairo, where raw materials and factories are located, and with all the difficulty of not having training centers to learn crafts related to fashion development. She also had to deal with her own lack of experience on management, planning, marketing and building partnerships, as well as poor skills to use modern technology. On top of that, her community did not appreciate women’s freedom in terms of career choice.

Dina joined an SIYB training and concluded three modules of the program, starting from the idea generation package to the business improvement one. Through
the trainings, she began to work on her idea and to crystallize it. Even though her dream was to be a fashion designer, she began to consider that she could first start manufacturing for others while opening a shop to display her own products.

Dina participated in a competition in the Umm Habiba Foundation in which she won £75,000 and a six-month incubation period. With the prize, she was able to develop a large factory to manufacture her products, starting mass production and reaching sales of more than one million pounds.

Nowadays, Dina has established the company’s headquarter in Cairo, through which she operates a network of suppliers and exhibitions. The development of a website allowed the company to reach end customers, and now she can sell products in four countries other than Egypt.

Dina Emad receiving the award from the Umm Habiba Foundation