Across Egypt, grassroots initiatives are equipping marginalised women with new skills and pathways to financial independence. Many also transform waste into marketable products, addressing environmental challenges while generating sustainable income. Here are six for-profit and non-profit enterprises empowering women through craftsmanship, and creating products with purpose.

Threads of Hope

Located in Downtown Cairo, this social enterprise was founded in 2019 by Malaika Linens with the goal of providing sustainable work to marginalised Egyptian women, migrants, and refugees. Threads of Hope trains women in six different techniques to produce hand-embroidered products such as shawls, tote bags, and cushions, which they sell via their online platform and at pop-up stores.

Upfuse

Founded in 2013, Upfuse derives its mission from the 30 million tons of plastic waste generated annually in Egypt. By employing local female artisans from low-income neighbourhoods, Upfuse upcycles plastic and throw-away clothes into fashionable garments which they sell at their three stores in Cairo, Gouna, and Marsa Matrouh. They also turn trash into art, such as in their Reclaimed exhibition at Cairo Design Week.

APE Egypt

The Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE), an Egyptian NGO, recognises the urgent overlap between addressing environmental and social issues. Since 1984, APE’s mission has been to uplift the Hay El Zabaleen community, where more than half of Cairo’s informal garbage collectors reside, through recycling and upcycling. Among the many products they produce are decorative containers made from aluminium can tabs, earrings from discarded glass, and woven rugs from the offcuts of textile factories. In addition to employing craftswomen from Hay El Zabaleen, APE reinvests a substantial portion of their profits into charitable projects in the community.

VeryNile

Since its inception in 2019, VeryNile has removed 454 tons of plastic from the Nile River, supporting 180 fishermen and women in the process. Once out of the water, VeryNile’s artisans upcycle the plastic into a variety of products. VeryNile currently employs 21 artisans, most of whom are women and girls from Qursaya Island, an underserved community near Cairo.

MISHKĀ Handcrafts

MISHKĀ’s handmade leather and jewellery products are inspired by the architectural wonders of Cairo’s Desert of the Mamluks, also known as the City of the Dead. Using traditional techniques and natural materials, MISHKĀ employs women from the City of the Dead and helps train them into artisans and craftswomen. MISHKĀ is operated by the Sultan Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation founded in Egypt in 2016 to provide access to culture for underprivileged segments of the Egyptian society in Cairo.

MUSEEUM

Museeum is more than just a souvenir shop. Founded by Egyptian designer Indjy Taher and Jaeyung Kwon, a Korean expat in Egypt, Museeum positions ethically sourced crafts by local artisans at the centre of its store in the Grand Egyptian Museum. In curating their shop, the Taher and Kwon reached out to NGOs and governmental organisations that work with handicraft clusters all over Egypt, ensuring that all the products in their store were created locally and empowering craftsmen and women across the country in the process.

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