Annex (A) Selected Profiles

Annex A

Cairo Based Selected Profiles 100Copies, Association for the Protection of the Environment, Noon for Creative Enterprises, Zawya Art House Cinema

This annex sheds light on interesting aspects of business models adopted by four Cairo-based entities that are active in different cultural and creative sectors in Egypt. While the entities may not be entirely selfsustainable, they have adopted particularly interesting elements in their business models, contributing to their stability and the progress of their activities. While three of the proposed cases are directly related to the mandate of this study, the Association of the Protection of the Environment relates to the wider definition of CCIs.

100 Copies1

Mahmoud Refaat began producing and selling his own music in 2006. Through a website that he had created, he invited others to sell their own music, too – but only 100 copies per music piece. It is through this website and through his music that he became relatively known, and began to be invited to festivals in Europe; and, eventually started selling his music in Europe, too.

In 2010, he founded 100 Copies’ venue and recording studio for musicians to record and rehearse; and, for holding concerts every weekend for 100 people. In the meantime, 100 Copies began taking up the role of production for newly emerging musicians. 100 Copies would develop the image and the profile of the artists; in addition to offering its venue for performance and recording. The main condition for 100 Copies is the production of music that has an element of innovation. The upsurge of sha3by and mahraganat music was heavily supported by 100 Copies. 100 Copies’ role is to upscale the work of established artists, and expand their audience-base in and outside of Egypt. 100 Copies believes in the market, in the commercial scene – that is the main success indicator for the music that 100 Copies produces. It targets young, mass-oriented, but independent musicians; i.e., independent from major commercial music companies such as Mazzika or Rotana.

The strength of 100Copies is its vast network in and outside of Egypt. Over the years, Refaat managed to travel frequently, participate in many festivals, engage in collaborations and productions of small and larger concerts, thereby obtaining coverage from major news agencies and expanding his worldwide network vastly. The YouTube channel of 100 Copies has more than 18,000 subscribers and some of the songs or festival footage of the channel have over 500,000 views. In 2012-2013, 100 Copies became global. Its music was distributed in Japan, Germany, among others. More recently, 100 Copies music was bought by major music distributors, such as Columbia Records and Sony Music. According to Refaat, these agencies gave 100 Copies music the trademark of being worldwide-recognized music. Yet, the actual purchase of the music does not translate into much income for 100 Copies, though.

Refaat has a successful profile as an individual, artist and producer making a living solely out of working in the music industry in Egypt. Refaat started 100 Copies with his own capital, and managed the growth of his business through various collaborations with cultural and developmental agencies; as well as touring Europe and participating in different festivals.

Mahmoud Refaat

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100 Copies is responsible for the music program of D-CAF, commissioning different works, as well as works with corporate, cultural and the development sectors. In the past, 100 Copies partnered with Stella Beer, Goethe, British Council, Dutch embassy and DEDI, among others.

According to Refaat, to generate revenue from music, “one has to be everywhere.” Refaat sees that the digital market is essential, particularly to become known and hence invited to festivals, where networking happens. He sees that a major milestone is having one’s music purchased by major music distributors; this enables one’s music global recognition, and thus more apt for larger viewership.

Association of the Protection of the Environment (APE)2

The Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) is an Egyptian non-governmental organization established in 1984. APE is based in the garbage collectors’ area (Zabbaleen), in Mansheyet Nasser. As an NGO, APE is governed by an 11-person volunteer board of directors, who come from outside the settlement, oversees APE’s activities and management. The board members are selected based on their expertise in areas such as business, government, community development, agriculture, and engineering, as well as their commitment to working with underprivileged communities.

The Board of Directors sets the direction and policies for the organization, in consultation with volunteer experts. The general assembly comprising more than sixty expert volunteers provide support in areas such as health, education, the environment, recycling technology, social development, and micro-finance. These dedicated volunteers provide their time and skills in financial management, project design, agriculture, health care, sewing techniques, paper recycling, rug weaving, construction and marketing. The founders’ contribution is not limited to time and knowledge, but also to support of a capital fund which has established and launched the organization.3 A staff of more than four hundred people run the day-to-day operations of the organization. As part of its commitment to empowering the local community and providing sustainable solutions, the majority of APE’s employees are from the garbage collectors’ community.4

APE’s founders and board members believe that real change is achieved primarily by investing in individuals. They are also well acquainted with the conditions of the community since the NGO is based within the target neighborhood. The adopted strategy is therefore that of learning through earning. APE first targeted women, as they are marginalized yet influential in the development of their society, since they are responsible for the children’s upbringing. APE’s first interventions focused on teaching women a craft in order to generate income, in parallel to conducting literacy classes.

Crafts generate income for both the women and APE. The volunteers monitor the work to assure quality.

They also market the products locally and internationally. Because of their knowledge and understanding of their market they assist local artisans in designing the products and ensure that new crafts and techniques are introduced. All the introduced crafts contain an element of up-scaling of resources, an approach that corresponds with the nature of the Zabbaleen who are responsible for recycling most of Cairo’s solid waste.

In 1999, the Kattameya recycling plant was established. The plant served two purposes, generating income to APE to fund their service projects in Zabbaleen and Torah, in addition to filling a gap in Egypt’s solid

Members of the board of directors www.ape.org.eg 4 Ibid.

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waste management system, that being proper handling of organic waste via recycling. The plant is now closed, threatening their stability.

APE was founded with support of the Ford Foundation, local philanthropists and private entrepreneurial funds, namely the Sawiris Family. The founders solely funded infrastructure. Private donations and donors covered capital items. APE’s operation costs are mainly covered by self-managed income generating projects that are designed based on market studies conducted by experts. They also support local economy by using cottage industry products.

Local and international donors supported the self-established and self-managed income-generating project, namely the Compost Factory. The production unit used to cover most of the unit’s expenses as well as most of the overheads. This is no longer the case because as mentioned, the plant was recently closed.

Memberships and donations from the friends of APE as well as in-kind contribution such as the know how during training, brainstorming or planning are fundamental sources for APE. However, it is now more difficult for APE to sustain its work.

Developing a clear marketing strategy based on market studies in addition to ongoing improvement of produced items and introduction of new designs and crafts should assure the sustainability and growth of the production unit. APE products are not easy to market locally. Board members see that local market does not understand, appreciate or value recycling and crafts yet. They are therefore targeting international markets.

Volunteers, their dedication, knowledge, local and international networks, are considered the key to the success and sustainability of APE. The challenge at this point is to identify and attract a second line of volunteers that will eventually replace the current team.

Another aspect of APE’s model is the clear vision it has, in addition to a comprehensive and coherent strategy that builds on the capacity, skills and resources of the volunteers, employees and local community.

This strategy is constantly finding alternative mechanisms to fulfill the goals and sustain APE. In addition to the diverse funding mechanism, the well-structured governing body and the ongoing training and exposure, through travel of the board members and employees are considered strengths.

Noon for Creative Enterprise5

Nada Sabet, a graduate of the American University in Cairo’s theatre and psychology program, began her career working with children with learning difficulties during the mornings, and practicing theatre during the evenings. Sabet used to conduct theatre performances that would be performed at Downtown Cairo’s Rawabet theatre, and the like. On one occasion, she was asked by the British Council to collaborate with a British theatre director, who was coming to Egypt to do an inclusive theatre performance, with “differentlyabled bodies.” Together, they created the performance ta’ala lamma a’ollak (Come let me tell you). They worked with children from the NGO “The Right to Life.” This is where her professions coincided, as a theatre director and as a psychologist.

She traveled to the UK to pursue her MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship, and upon her return she founded Noon Creative Enterprise towards the end of 2010. She founded the company in partnership with a friend Sally Samy, a human rights defender.

Nada Sabet

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One of Noon’s first projects was commissioned by the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNFPA), with a grant from H&M, to conduct an interactive theatre play on youth civic participation in Egypt. Noon performed with this theatre piece 14 times in 9 governorates. Sabet would go to Ahmed Kamal’s acting school, select actors and ask these to participate in her auditions. The theatre piece is an accumulation of random scenes that came to being through crew improvisation, where Sabet would facilitate the games and the exercises. According to Sabet, actors were paid very well in this commissioned project.

Generally, Noon would first obtain a commission, then request an extension for wider geographic coverage.

For example, in 2011 Noon performed its theatre piece around the theme of “How to talk to your parents” 14 times, then received an extension and managed to perform it 450 times in different locations, with the support of different agencies.

Noon would perform in schools, cafés, universities, NGOs, cultural palaces, youth clubs, on the streets, and anywhere it obtained access. Noon would perform wherever it had a local connection, which Sabet considers as a soft authority. Often, Noon would work with schools, which has a so-called Protocol of Cooperation with schools. When asked about harassments of people and/or security on the streets during performances, Sabet said that the community protects her crew; and, that how people feel about performing in the public varies from one person to the other, depending on their respective perception of personal space. She thought that working in the governorates is generally easier, since everyone is connected to everyone and it is easy to find someone who could facilitate processes, unlike Cairo.

Sabet hires staff per project, and ensures that permanent staff remains few in number. Noon has only three full time employees, including Sabet. Noon works mainly commission-based, yet it has its own projects as well. Noon owns its shows, those being the source of Noon’s largest portion of income. The commissioner (mostly INGOs) would send background research pieces to Noon; and, ask the latter to develop a theatre concept thereto. Together with her team, Sabet would read the research, come up with a concept and hire the necessary crew, as needed. Noon also gets commissioned from the corporate sector to do conferences.

The art scene, according to Sabet, has a skill-set that the corporate sector demands. The diversification of her clients’ base helps the sustainability and success of Noon.

Sabet reiterates that artists need to understand different pre-existing models and their respective mechanics; the components of a festival for example, that of a cultural space, of a theatrical performance; one needs to know how these models work inside-out. This training was part of Sabet’s MA program in the UK and was very useful for her in building her own business model for Noon.

“Artists need to look at what they can do differently to become more sustainable. There are numerous markets that one could tap into – they should just decide and find capital; people just need to use the right language for the right source,” says Sabet. She underscores that it is primarily persistence that made her make it. Sabet sees an issue with quality; educational programs do not give artists in Egypt the tools for the quality needed.

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Zawya Art House Cinema6

Zawya, an initiative of Misr International Films production company, is the first art house cinema in Egypt that plays the role of an independent place of screening, in addition to being a distributor. Zawya cinemas were established in Cairo and in Tanta in 2014. The Zawya distribution company was established afterwards in 2015, followed by Zawya cinema in Alexandria in the same year. According to Youssef El Shazly, director of Zawya, Zawya is trying to complete the value chain for the independent films in Egypt. He sees that independent films need to be promoted to become part of the market. Zawya should support the transformation of independent films from being exclusively for the informal sector to becoming integrated in the industry. It is also trying to change the prevailing trend of multiple roles of film directors that tend to be in charge of all tasks of production, distribution of and screening of their films. The model that Zawya is promoting is that of assigning each task to the entity that is well equipped to do it. Zawya sees to support all producers and filmmakers; it will approach some while being open to being approached by others.

Zawya cinema in Cairo is sub-rented from a major production company. Zawya manages the cinema according to its own vision; and, shares the revenue with the landlord. The capacity of the cinema is 175 seats and tickets are sold for EGP25. Films are screened five times per week. Zawya sells an average of 100 tickets per day. Because the arrangement with the landlord is not in Zawya’s favor, according to Youssef El Shazly, Zawya relies on sponsors to sustain the cinema; El Shazly, however, assumes that if all shows are full house, eventually, Zawya will manage to break even. To expand its outreach beyond downtown, Zawya screens films in multiplex cinemas across Cairo and in events such as Oshtoora. In Tanta and Alexandria, screening is limited to few shows per week in rented cinemas.

While Zawya has a very interesting business model that is based primarily on collaboration rather than duplication, so far, it is not fully sustainable, since it risks losing access to the cinema at any point in time.

While this has not been her strategy before, to sustain its operations, Zawya is considering obtaining its own venue; the team is trying to identify a new space that it could refurbish and register under its name.

The process of registration remains very complicated and costly.

Yousef El Shazly

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