Wednesday, February 11, 2009 |
Author: Juka
Those of you who know me know that I've been down with the flu for the past 10 days. During that time my lovely mom has been serving me the widest and most delicious variety of herbal teas. Inquisitive, I asked if they were of the local variety or some fancy imported label. I was told they were a Sekem production.
The name Sekem may not ring bells with you, but I'm sure you all remember the "Organic" campaign spearheaded by their brand name "Isis". I got online and did a little research. It turns out they have quite the extensive product offering; including teas, coffees, juices, oriental drinks, herbs and spices, whole grain, honey, dried fruit, oils and a variety of other agri-products.
Sekem is the brainchild of Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish, who founded the farm and the company in 1977 to realise the vision of sustainable human development. Now this is an Egyptian farm in Belbeis who's owner has made the consious decision to grow all his produce organically. Moreover had the vision to invest in agri-business and make use of that produce using simple processing techniques and well thought out packaging. He has managed to make his products highly accessible to all of us and at a quality comparable to that of the imported labels.
Going Local Rating:
Packaging: 9/10
Flavour: 10/10
Variety: 10/10
Pricing: 9/10
Overall rating: Thumbs up from us!
Category:
Tried and True
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2 comments:
Let me just start by applauding your call for buying Egyptian. It's about time we understand how crucial it is to support quality Egyptian products.
As for Isis, I will tell you that I'm now living in the U.K. and whenever someone is visiting I ask them to bring some of their products. I also noticed that most of my foreign friends visiting or asking for something from Egypt really appreciate their range of organic herbal drinks.
My area of specialization is Intellectual Property Rights esp Copyright & Trademarks and I'm always happy to see a local business working hard to build up a quality brand, Cilantro is one of few examples but I also know there has been some efforts by the Ministry of Trade to help furniture manufacturers to build up their own labels esp since many of them export their products. Could yo provide me with some more details about this initiative and whether there is a chance to be of any help?
Dear Anon: We appreciate your support and are grateful that you believe in our initiative and are a Sekem fan as well. I will look into it with friends at MTI (Ministry of Trade and Industry), but for the time being could you be gracious enough to send us more information about yourself and how to contact you at buyegypt@gmail.com