Maz Market is Building a Home for Egypt’s Next Generation of Creatives
"The youth have the energy to do whatever they need to build their dreams."
Ahmed Abdelazim had a clear goal in mind when he started building the foundations for Maz Market: develop a platform where Egypt’s local youth artists and designers can express their talents, sell their art and fashion, and showcase their talents within the country and beyond its borders.
“Everyone has a dream, the youth have the energy to do whatever they need to build their dreams, and at the same time, there was no proper entity or store when we started putting this together that was fully committed to giving young people the tools to grow their brands,” Abdelazim tells CairoScene. “That’s what we provide, a space for them to unleash their creativity.”
The idea first took shape during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, starting out as a pop-up in an outdoor space, intentionally curated to be as different as possible from the other stalls around. Abdelazim and his team continued building from there, refining the format event after event and understanding what resonated. By 2023, the concept had evolved into something more ambitious.
“We wanted to design our experience in a dedicated store, so we thought to ourselves, why don’t we try and contribute to shaping the emerging local industries?” Abdelazim explained. "At the same time, we wanted to provide a blank canvas for creators.”
That philosophy led to what Maz is today — a one-stop permanent flagship store dedicated to all things local, designed modularly, giving people the opportunity to book photo shoots, host listening sessions, record podcasts, and sell their art and clothing all at the same time.
The store, located in Sheikh Zayed’s Majarrah Mall, has been open under a soft launch phase for the past two months. In April, Abdelazim says, they plan to host a grand opening that includes an innovative audiovisual experience.
