The hands-on headdress maker

Entrepreneur says he is optimistic after taking a chance on moving his factory, which makes head covering worn by Middle Eastern men, from China to Egypt

The keffiyeh, the popular headwear made of cloth and worn by Arabic men, has for a long time been manufactured in far-flung locations outside the Middle East.

The shift of its major production sites from the United Kingdom to Japan to South Korea and then to China during recent decades has been a gauge of economic development in different countries.

"Now, it is Egypt's turn," says Wang Weiqiang, general manager of Egypt Tianjin Yashmagh Textile Company.

"Egypt enjoys a lot of advantages in spite of daunting challenges and uncertainties."

Wang set up his plant with an investment of $1 million last year, to produce keffiyeh primary for five export markets - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, with the first two being the largest.

All keffiyeh are made in a base white, traditional in some countries. Depending on a client's requirements, colors such as red, orange or beige can be added, and often red is requested. The headwear provides protection from sunburn, dust and sand.

The factory, equipped with 24 looms, is in the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone near the Suez Canal.

Wang is doing trial runs and working to improve the weavers' skills to get his high-end keffiyeh up to the quality level needed. He declines to disclose his prices.

While it's possible to hold a conversation in his office, right outside the door the sounds of two dozen looms make that difficult. Local workers are running the machines with the help of skilled Chinese and Egyptian employees.

Wang says he is confident his investment will soon pay off.

Wang began his career in the early 1990s as a salesman in Middle Eastern markets of made-in-China children's clothes and later on undergarments. A decade of marketing experience helped him gain an understanding of Islamic culture and markets, and accumulate marketing channels for his products.

In 2002, he set up a business making keffiyeh in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin in partnership with some friends. He did the marketing. "The business was not bad during those years," Wang says.

But the competition in textiles in China is "unbelievably tough", Wang says. Many have chosen to compete by dropping prices as low as possible, which "kills themselves and competitors."

"I was not willing to be part of such a price war, and so I chose to leave," says Wang, adding that only six companies in China produced products similar to those of his company.

Wang also says that in China, it is very hard to hire young weavers and workers, even though in the 1980s and 1990s, waves of young Chinese men and women flooded into textile factories in coastal China. Even though labor costs are multiplying, Wang says it is a headache to find workers younger than 30 for textile factories.

"All these factors have forced me to leave China and shift my business," he says.

The advantages of Egypt, where per capita GDP is half of China's, still outweigh the disadvantages given that Egypt has gradually become stable after two revolutions since 2011, Wang says.

He says it is also an advantage that Egypt is world-famous for long-staple cotton, known for being supple, smooth and glossy. The source of the cloth for the keffiyeh makes a big difference in buyers' minds, he says.

"In this sense, made-in-Egypt textile products should sell better than those made in China. In some ways, this is the biggest reason I decided to shift my business from China to Egypt," he says.

Wang is targeting markets outside Egypt, so his exports will not only create jobs but also earn foreign currency, which means his company should always be welcomed by the Egyptian government.

Putting the factory near his market and clients also saves money. "For years, we always have produced for foreign brands. As of now, I don't have my own," he says. "I am still part of a business chain."

In Egypt, the wages of skilled workers are around a third of those in China, and it takes no more than a few hours to meet with his agents or clients. "But if I am in China, it is a time-consuming thing to travel to Middle Eastern markets," he says.

There are also negatives for foreign investors - including the risk of instability and the scarcity of qualified workers - but Wang has been extremely cautious. He did a feasibility study in 2010, but when he was ready to open his business, the Egyptian revolution happened, which delayed his plans.

In early 2013, officials at the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone called him, saying the situation had improved and he could open his business. After another feasibility study, Wang shipped looms from China to the zone near Suez Canal, where up to 30 Chinese companies of various sizes have also opened.

Wang said his experience proves it was best to ship the equipment in one piece rather than dismantling it before shipment. "Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time assembling them and then holding trials to test them," he says.

One factor he's had to contend with is that this year, because of a decreased yield of cotton in Egypt, the price of raw materials has increased by 20 percent. But Wang says his biggest challenge has been finding a qualified management team and skilled weavers in Egypt.

"So I have to do the daily management by myself, even though my interest is in marketing," says Wang.

His company opened in late 2013, and he hired a local management team, but it failed to lead the weavers to produce high quality keffiyeh.

"I then fired the team and started to run things myself."

He translated the weaving instructions into English, a language he knows, and taught the English-speaking local team leader how to weave. After that, the team leader turned the instructions into Arabic for local weavers.

"In recent months, I have devoted myself to teaching them weaving skills," says Wang. "I was depressed before July because as a small business, we were always investing, but there was no output."

His concerns started to be allayed after he trained 10 skilled Egyptian weavers, who can run four looms at a time. While things aren't perfect yet, they have made progress. "This is a big success for me, and they are my treasures," he adds.

Wang is still looking to hire more men as weavers because in Egypt, women are not allowed to work the night shift.

While denying that he is overly ambitious, Wang says he is convinced his company will be successful in three to five years.

"The market potential is there and the future will be bright," he says.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/26/2014 page20)