Idea Company Ltd: Home solutions for better living
Interview of June 20nd, 2005 at Idea, El Gouna
Profile: Mr Roberto Ferrante, Managing Director of IDEA Co. Ltd. El Gouna, Originally from Italy, early 40, married, no children, speaks Italian, English, French and a little Arabic. Roberto and his wife Tatiana live already 8 years in El Gouna, and since 2001 they run together the Idea Company: Home Solutions for better living.
Based in the heart of El Gouna, Egypt, in a large store, Idea Company and P&P Property Management, two leading companies in their business, are now under the same roof to offer the new service: “Total home caring” means a complete service for the owners that starts from an accurate interior design, going on with a complete furnishing and accessorizing of the apartments and villas, ending with a useful housekeeping and maintenance program, everything designed to measure. Basic collections are: Light Oriental, Ethnic and Modern-minimalist.
Roberto told us quite in detail how their business developed very difficult in the beginning. “We have been the first established Company in El Gouna dealing with furniture, interior design, etc, Our purpose is to increase the value of architectural structures (villas and flats) throughout the study, the planning and the realization of interior and out-door decoration.”
Furniture is bulky, therefore costly to import and the Egyptian import rules have to be “checked” by a lot of different people, which makes it a tedious and costly process.
So they started to work with some local carpenters in Egypt and finally have a group of people they can count on. IDEA Company has now a team of people specialized in different fields who can provide complete solutions to the various houses’ types. We work using artesian techniques and research of typical materials to realize the furnishing and the upholstery. So, our products are always a unique furnishing , which result from the union between Italian design and local material, plus a huge choice of accessories, decoration complements and linen. Sometimes a problem is also to deal with the Egyptian politeness: “they will always say Yes, it’s possible”, even if it is not possible, because according to the Arabic mentality it would be impolite to say No.
Roberto: “…But it is very important to motivate our craftsmen over and over again…”. Therefore Idea had to become very strict in their delivery times: “… According to the increased volume of work, at the moment, we cannot promise to our customers that something can be delivered very soon, and actually you’ve always to count that the delivering time is, on average, around 3 months. But we are trying to reduce that timing by re-organizing our Company according to the growing demand”.
It’s a pity that some companies do let believe their customers that everything is possible, but “… I’m sure that, even in El Gouna, sooner or later the serious people may emerge from the average mass.”
Two important things Roberto would like to add to the interview: “… There is a big misbelieve that because craftsmen in Egypt are relatively cheap, anything can be tailor-made at a cheap price. This is not evident, because as soon as something differs from the normal standards, you’ll need an expert standing beside to guide the differences and supervising the production very strictly from A to Z. And gone is the advantage of cheap Egyptian hours….”
And “… Handmade must be appreciated also. Don’t forget we deliver natural products. If you order now 6 chairs, but plans to have later 2 additional chairs, please order them now, because colour and even textiles will certainly be different afterwards… ”
As now even the re-sell market of the older apartments and villas are growing fast, we have now added a new branch to our Company that provides a complete service for refurbishing that properties, starting from moving internal walls, plastering, tinting or any kind of plumber works, going on with the other winning services we are already offering since the beginning.
IDEA Company Ltd.
Telephone:+20.65.3549702 ext:2331/2423
MOBILES: IDEA Company Ltd. +20.12.2405409
FAX: +20.12.2443322
email: info@ideaegypt.com
Website: www.ideaegypt.com