Oral History Archive Lobna Abo Doma

Lobna’s interview formed a part of a group interview with her sisters and business partners, Omayma and Rabab. Lobna discussed her long career, personal family matters, and her entrepreneurship on two separate projects with her sisters.

Lobna started the interview by mentioning that she is a graduate of Alsun with a major in French. Like her sisters Omayma and Rabab, Lobna had worked at several local and multinational companies until she decided to pursue her entrepreneurial ambitions and start two businesses alongside her sisters. She mentioned her pride in the success of Touch Wood, a wood-based home accessories enterprise and she emphasized that their products are 100% made in Egypt. Through their combined efforts, Touch Wood has become a name brand with strong market presence.

On their decision to leave behind the corporate world and open their own business, Lobna pointed out that corporate work provides stability and knowledge of where your next paycheck is coming from. Entrepreneurship can be riddled with uncertainties as their income fluctuates from season to season. However, Lobna agreed with Omayma and Rabab that entrepreneurship creates flexibility and the opportunity to design your own work schedule, things not offered by the pressure of corporate life.

Lobna hinted at some initial trepidation when they decided to leave the comforts and benefits of being employees and starting their own business. However, they decided to take the risk with the support of their families. Lobna mentioned that in Egypt it is expected to find a steady job with a company once you graduate. Her passion was always art, however, so she found herself working in handicrafts as an afternoon occupation. Art was a constant presence in her life that she actively pursued. Lobna discussed their first entrepreneurship project together as sisters, a school called “Art Fun” where they taught children different forms of art. The early stages of founding Art Fun were permeated with some challenges. Lobna narrated that locating a suitable place and ensuring their school was well-promoted were some of these early challenges. This was around nineteen years ago, so it was before the days of social media and they had to rely on print media such as magazines to advertise their school. Art Fun lasted for seven years and it was a successful project. The main impediment of Art Fun was its time-consuming nature. They were providing morning and afternoon classes and running everything by themselves. They enjoyed the work, but it was coming at the expense of their families, so they made the decision to shut it down.

The conversation then shifted to the founding of Touch Wood and the differences and similarities between Art Fun and Touch Wood. Whereas in Art Fun, Lobna, Omayma, and Rabab mainly dealt with women, with Touch Wood they have women workers as well as male suppliers and carpenters. When asked to elaborate on the gender dynamics of working with men while being women entrepreneurs, the three of them admitted to the difficulties of working with men. Some suppliers and carpenters assumed they were not familiar with woodworking or lacked any basic understanding of different types of wood. At first, Lobna felt awkward dealing with and attempting to correct older men. With time, however, she realized that this is a transactional process and that they are paying money in exchange of goods. Time and experience taught them to discern high-quality woods and to learn to assert their demands and specifications of the materials they use in their business. When asked whether they intentionally chose women workers only, they said this happened by accident. In the beginning, the girls working in their workshop were students at the Faculty of Fine Arts who wanted to work during their summer vacation. As Touch Wood expanded, they required more stable labor and they hired women workers. The three sisters said they refused to hire any male workers because the girls and women are working by themselves without any daily supervision. Lobna refused the idea of gender-mixing out of concern for their workers. Lobna, Omayma, and Rabab assert that Touch Wood is a family business and they are always careful to treat their employees with respect and to be considerate of their needs. Due to their good treatment, women workers always want to return after taking maternity leave or needed time-off. As women, they understand that girls and women shoulder several responsibilities towards their families while they pursue their careers. Thus, they try to be accommodating and understanding of women’s obligations towards their households.

Gendered roles in the workplace was an issue that Lobna observed during her time at HCH supply. She noted that all the engineers were men while women occupied administrative duties. She did concede that this was twenty years ago and that she feels that gender divisions within the workplace are not so clearcut anymore. She felt confident that she never suffered any form of pressure to pursue a specific career because of her gender. She made her career choices as she saw fit for herself. In terms of who is more committed at work, men or women, Lobna stated that she perceived women to be more committed at their jobs than men until they get married. Her sister Rabab mentioned that currently the most dedicated worker is a single girl at their workshop. Familial responsibilities compromise women’s dedication and commitment to their jobs.

On the issue of entrepreneurship and being pioneers, Lobna pointed out that when they founded Art Fun around twenty years ago, they were among the first women and people in general to start such a project. The three sisters even mentioned that a famous plastic artist wanted to merge with them and take over their business owing to Art Fun’s success. The three of them refused since this was their project and they did not want to hand over their work to anybody or be under anyone’s thumb. Their work with Touch Wood is also special and unique as they were the first artists to draw and paint all their products by hand. Lobna also said that what also makes their products unique is that they are meant for daily use, not merely decorative items. The influence of both Art Fun and Touch Wood touched others who were inspired by their examples and decided to start their own art school or wood-based projects.

Within Touch Wood, Lobna, Omayma, and Rabab are all artists who handle different artistic aspects. The labor division comes down to Lobna handling human resources and finances while Rabab takes care of operations. The three of them also take care of product distribution across different sectors of Cairo. Touch Wood’s success and reputation extends beyond Egypt as they have clients in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Bahrain, and Kuwait among other countries. The three sisters asserted that they are very happy working together and they never looked back on their decision to quit their jobs and pursue their artistic endeavors.