MANUFACTURER OF THE MONTH- Once a month, Inside Industry looks at a manufacturer — whether locally bred or an international player with a manufacturing base here in Egypt. The monthly feature covers manufacturers in different industries to look at their success stories, the challenges they have faced as local manufacturers, and the path forward as Egypt looks to build a more robust local industry. This month, we spoke with Hani Cassis (LinkedIn), chairman of Mintra.

Mintra is a multi-disciplinary brand that produces a range of products including stationary, textiles, furniture, home appliances, and sportswear. You probably use Mintra products at home without realizing it. Anybody you talk to will probably tell you that they’ve carried one of our Jumbo notebooks at some point. Our initial marketing strategy was to promote different brand names under the Mintra family, like Jumbo, but we’ve shifted to umbrella branding with our newer products.

Affordability is an important part of our marketing strategy. We aim to sell our products to every Egyptian household. Our products are all affordable, high-quality, sustainable, and environmentally friendly items tested at the highest standards and devoid of hazardous materials. We view our customers as supporters and aim to provide value for money.

The majority of our manufacturing components are locally sourced. Only 10% of materials that go into our shoes, for example, are imported. It’s one of our most vertically-integrated segments and we actually manufacture most of the materials in-house, including rubber and the EVA that goes into the soles. Because the portion of imported components is so low, we’ve been able to maintain the prices of our shoes despite the devaluation. Sports shoes are a very labor-intensive product. In a country like Vietnam, they’re a mainstay of the economy. We locally source two thirds of the components used in the production of furniture, microfiber products, textiles, bags, and home appliances. Paper-based products are 100% locally sourced. Our eco-friendly range is primarily made out of sugarcane.

Mintra accounts for 2% of the world’s exports in notebooks and pads. Across the board, we’re Egypt’s biggest exporter to the US market by far. We export our products to over 80 countries across all continents. Our biggest export market in terms of consumption is the US, followed by Europe — specifically France, UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. We export to everywhere we can unless there’s a political issue that precludes us from doing so. That includes unusual destinations like Panama, Madagascar, and Mauritius. Mintra makes the most sales where purchasing power is the highest. In the Gulf, for instance, that’s Saudi Arabia. Right here, it’s South Africa.

We export 90% of our stationery, which is one of our most well-established segments, and we’re targeting the same percentage for all our products. Exports vary from one segment to another depending on what stage the product has reached in its life cycle. When we launch a new product, we always start with the local market and gradually ramp up exports. It’s a hell of a job; you need a marketing strategy for each market, as well as staff and inventory on the ground. We brought our shoes factory online last year and made our first shipment of Mintra sports shoes to the US market two months ago. We’re currently sending the second batch.

Our branding and quality are identical across all of our markets. The products sold by Mintra Egypt are the same as those available at Mintra USA or Mintra France, for instance, with the only difference being that the latter are a bit more expensive due to shipping costs and other expenses.

If you don’t have effective compliance mechanisms in place, you won’t be able to export at all. Our manufacturing processes are audited by a third party and we continually test our machinery. We also conduct social and environmental audits and abide by global ESG standards. This is ground zero for us; it goes without saying. The policies we uphold include equal pay for women and men, non-harassment, anti-bribery, and legal working age.

At home, our primary goal is not to make money, but rather to develop the local market — a feat that can only be accomplished by shifting the national focus from consumption to exporting. We care a lot about workmanship and the country’s economic sustainability. The most fundamental tenet of sustainability is manufacturing locally and exporting to bring in hard currency into the country. Mintra adopted this vision early on.

There’s a general state of confusion between development and growth. What we need are clear mandates that guide the private sector towards developing the national industry. These mandates should be set by policy-makers then trickle down to all the sectors as tangible objectives and clear-cut KPIs and timelines. We also need to see a balanced shift from construction and real estate, where most businessmen are putting their money, to industrial sectors. If you look at the ads on the streets, it’s all compounds and property. Real estate will only make the real estate developers rich. But a successful factory should make the workers rich enough to buy real estate. I'm not saying real estate development should come to a halt, but it should go hand in hand with manufacturing and exportation.

Your top industrial development stories for the week:

• More golden licenses handed out: The General Authority for Investment and Freezones (GAFI) handed out four golden licenses to Samsung, GASCO, Fayoum Storage and Warehouses Company, and EgyptSat Auto.
• French electrical equipment manufacturer Schneider Electric plans to inject EUR 30 mn into its Badr City factory until 2025 to increase the production capacity of low- and medium-voltage electrical panels and the company’s smart ring connection units.
• A German industrial zone in the SCZone? Egypt and Germany kicked off discussions about setting up a German industrial zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).
• Cement producers get greenlight to boost production for November: Cement producers were given the greenlight to boost production by 10% during November by the Trade Ministry.
• ICON is setting up another project in Saudi: A subsidiary of local building materials manufacturer Industrial Engineering for Construction and Development (ICON) will build a SAR 40 mn (USD 10.7 mn) light gauge steel (LGS) factory in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk.
• India’s Platinum Industries breaks ground on PVC factory: Plastics manufacturer Platinum Industries began construction on its 10k sqm PVC and CPVC factory in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.