Hend Gomaa
In this interview, Hend Sherine Gomaa talks about her education, career in the field of digital media, her company, the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and about her family and husband.
Hend graduated from the Faculty of Simultaneous Translation, Al-Azhar University, and joined EBM as an editor and a translator. She worked then in content writing on the internet at an early stage in its relatively short existence, that is, in 2000. Hend says that back then, most people were not fully aware of the importance of online Arabic content. She did not find her passion in translation, so she decided to take a different path. In the beginning, she used to think that programming was difficult, but she began to learn it by herself, without taking any courses. She gradually left translation and focused on digital media. After 15 years in her career, she traveled to Beirut to attend an event, and that is where she met her current business partner. He discussed starting their own company together. This is when she left her stable job, where she had numerous benefits. From day one, both partners agreed not to interfere in each other’s work, so he does not interfere in operations and technicalities, and she does not interfere in business development. Hend believes in the importance of mentorship programs and employing fresh graduates. Most businesses employ fresh graduates because they are mostly satisfied with lower salaries, says Hend, but she believes in hiring them to give them a chance to learn and discover themselves.
As for raising awareness about the importance of Arabic content online, Hend says that investors began to gradually realize it, as well as the fact that it could generate great revenue, especially with the Egyptian 25th January Revolution. Hend believes that the Revolution led to enriching Arabic content online somehow. Before then, online forums were a large repository of content, such as the famous Egyptian “Fatakat” Forum. Hend argues that content on Fatakat was of a low quality, and despite that fact, it generated enormous revenue. Therefore, she believes that high-quality content would even generate better revenue.
When asked about her family’s reaction to her leaving her stable job and establishing her own company, she said that her family, especially her mother, was supportive despite her initial concerns. Her father had passed away long before her decision to establish her own company, but she believes that had he been alive, he would have also supported her. Despite his relative conservatism, she said he gave her complete freedom to decide on her own path during her upbringing. Hend married later and says that her husband is also supportive of her in both words and actions. She also talked about her conscious decision not to have children, as she is not ready to abandon her career and focus on children.
One of the challenges that she faced was that one full team of developers resigned when they learned she was going to be their manager. She says they could not take the idea that their manager is a woman and one who does not even wear hijab. She intentionally replaced the team with another one that consists of women only. Hend also understands that some women have concerns about having a female manager, but she asserts this is not a matter of gender, but of character. Some managers are tough, while others are gentle and nice, and this has nothing to do with gender, she says.
In a similar vein related to gender dynamics and business, Hend emphasized that clients do not find a problem in dealing with her as a female manager, even in a traditional society like Saudi Arabia. She believes that women can prove themselves through their experience and their diligence. When asked about whether investors have concerns about investing in a company owned by a woman, Hend said that the opposite is true. Most investors understand that women are more responsible than men and take their time when making decisions. Hend also sees a difference between men and women when it comes to work. As previously stated, women tend to take their time before taking any steps, so Hend believes investing in women is more worthwhile than investing in men, who tend to be rash and to change jobs more often. She also talked about some of the problematics of being a woman in a leadership position in Egyptian culture, such as saying that any behavior she exhibits is the result of her “hormonal problems.” She said she and an employee had a disagreement once, and she did not deal with it in the best manner, so she tried apologizing to him more than once. He suddenly resigned after a month and only told her he was a traditional man, and he cannot accept that a woman raised her voice in front of him. She asserts that men may show their anger in our culture, but women are not entitled to do the same.
As for the novel coronavirus pandemic and its impact on business in general and Hend’s business in particular, she said that it had a great impact on the field. Some companies laid off some employees or cut their salaries. However, Hend’s work was not greatly impacted by the pandemic, as she and her team usually rely on working online. However, this does not negate the fact that her business was impacted somehow. She said that some clients cut their marketing budget out of fear. However, she asserts that the field is almost back at full force again because the world realized lockdowns are not the solution. Coronavirus is a pandemic, she says, thus it is meant to stay. As for how Hend and her team coped with the pandemic, she said they spent four months working from home in the beginning. She is, however, totally against working from home, as she believes in direct face-to-face communication with her team.
The interview covered different aspects of Hend’s character, her work in digital media, and the challenges she faced and continued to face as she works on enriching Arabic content online.