Sohayla Walid Helal: Taking Midterms While Running a Business

At the age of twenty, Sohayla Walid Helal is far beyond where most of us were – or will be – at that age. A third-year graphic design student at the American University in Cairo, she also owns and manages a successful business: El Condo.

El Condo is a retail store for home products focusing on items for the kitchen, garden, bathroom and living room. The project began when Helal’s father, Walid, started an outdoor furniture line called Boja. The line quickly sold well and her father started looking for retail space to expand. Suddenly, Helal was in the midst of it all.

“I remember waking up one day to find out that I was going with [my father] to Downtown Mall to look at potential retail stores,” Helal told us. After they settled on the perfect spot, her father sat her down and told her he wanted this to be her project. “He wanted me to work on it from scratch. Come up with a concept for the store and design the walls and overall space,” she said.

So she did. She involved herself in every detail, from the layout, which was inspired by a shop she had seen in New York, to choosing each product available in the store – down to the colors – to ensure it would have the mix and feel she wanted.

“I loved the idea of entering a well-designed, illusional space where you are transported into a whole new place,” Helal told us. “As soon as you step in, you are in the garden of your house, then as you go around the store, each section is designed to make you feel at home. The kitchen has products for your kitchen to buy, so does the bathroom and so on. “

And she did all this while taking her midterms at AUC and working on her final graduation project. Balancing university and opening the store has been “the most difficult” thing Helal has ever done, she told us. During the first three months of setting up the store “I experienced things I never thought I had to,” she said.

During that time, she found herself so overwhelmed that she wasn’t doing well in her classes. “I was failing at balancing between uni and work,” she said. And while the store was important, she knew university was supposed to be her priority. So she turned to her family and, with their help, she was able to get herself back on track. Even then, however, her father had high expectations of her.

“I am glad he pushed me beyond limits I never thought possible,” she told us. “He believed in me, even at times when I thought I didn’t have it in me to own and manage my own store.”

“He is a great teacher and awesome mentor,” she added.

Helal began working on the project last October and it opened on Jan. 8.

“After launching my store, things became a little easier,” she told us. “I employed someone to help out and be there all day since I had classes to attend.”

Finding that employee, however, wasn’t easy: Helal was worried that candidates wouldn’t take her seriously when they found out she was still in university. “I really wanted to look and sound professional, and thankfully, after a long process, I was able to find the right person to help out,” she said.

Her other biggest challenge has been understanding all the numbers that go with running a business: sales reports were not her strong suit, but her brother, Omar, and a friend, Mena Turk, helped her figure things out.

Her family has been instrumental as a support system and also to help when she has a problem. Now, with the store up and running, the hardest thing is to “not forget that my classes are as important as my store,” she said. “Ditching class because I have a problem at the store can no longer be an option.” So on the days she isn’t able to pass by the store because of school obligations, her brother will check in for her.

Most days, however, Helal checks in on the store herself, taking the time to talk with her customers. She believes that making sure she’s aware and involved in every aspect of the shop will be key to its success.

All the challenges have been worth it, she said. “The day I opened my store was one of my proudest moments,” Helal told us. “Being able to say that I own a store at the age of 20 is pretty awesome. One more thing to add to my CV, right?”

You go, girl. We can’t wait to see where you go next!

WE SAID THIS: Check out El Condo on Facebook and Instagram.