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Last Friday, I met with my first entrepreneur for the Catalyst in the Middle East series. Huda El Jack, is a vivacious and dynamic woman who along with two partners, recently set up Palestine’s first premium coffee house (and brand) called Zamn.

The motivation: enterprise not aid

In any European city, the opening of a new café, premium or otherwise, is unlikely to attract particular attention of the social business community. But in the West Bank, where Israeli checkpoints and cumbersome cargo crossings have restricted movement for years, prosperous economic activity and home-grown employment opportunities are no longer common occurrences. It was partly the very size of the challenge that enticed Huda. But also, after years of talking about how she believes private enterprise rather than aid is the route to prosperity for Palestinians, she decided that it was time to put her money where the mouth was and set about proving it.

The idea: premium coffee for the Arab world

So about a year ago, Huda and her partners (also prominent business people in Palestine) decided to create Zamn. Zamn - meaning époque/time/age/era in Arabic - is intended to be a premium coffee brand, providing cafés of international standard but with cuisine of Palestinian flavour and served in a setting with a distinctive Middle Eastern feel. Having observed a number of Israeli coffee chains doing so well in Israel that US or European brands are rarely seen, Huda was keen to try and see this model work for the Arab world. 

The café opening

Zamn’s first café just opened in December last year, less than twelve months after the idea was conceived. This where I met Huda last week and indeed, the café is strikingly different from others nearby. Though housed in a very modern building, black and white murals of old Arab film stars decorate the walls and thoughtfully created menus line the tables, with dishes customised to meet both international and Palestinian tastes.

Serving an alternative palestine

Zamn is based in Ramallah, the bustling city in the centre of the West Bank, home to Palestinians of all income levels. This includes a significant middle class and a young, vibrant crowd confounding the more typical images of Palestine portrayed in the media, as only ever being embroiled in conflict and disaster. The city’s relative affluence is particularly striking given the tragic destruction that has recently taken place on the other side of Palestine, in Gaza. Though Ramallah has not been directly affected by the crisis, the mood has been understandably low causing Huda to cancel the initial launch party they had planned for Zamn, and instead hoping an anniversary celebration might be possible.

A new demographic

Ramallah also has an ever-growing international community, largely there on aid-funded work, and a large student population from the nearby Berzeit University.  The perfect market for a premium coffee house, Huda assures me. Given that there is a stream of customers passing through as we drink coffee that Friday afternoon, typically the quietest day of the week in Ramallah, her confidence doesn’t seem misplaced. (The fact that their only other potential competitor coffee house in Ramallah of known recognition is the ‘Stars and Bucks’ café might also have something to do with their popularity!).

Creating a business for the community

Recognising the fragility the environment in which they operate, Huda and her team are fully engaged in the effort of making Zamn not only a sustainable business but also that one that helps build its community. Already, Zamn employs 20 staff members in Ramallah, almost all of which are under the age of 30, an important contribution given that over a third of the West Bank population between the ages of 20 and 24 are unemployed. Aware of the skills gap that exists, the management team deliberately recruits those with little experience and provide all staff with the necessary training.

Unsurprisingly, demand for jobs has been high, with people dropping by requesting work at least three or four times a day. Huda is proud to show me the staff services provided to all employees and notes that investment in the ‘back office’ was as important a priority as finessing the parts visible for customer services. The plans for staff development are only just beginning it seems as she discusses career development plans she has for specific staff members, many of which are university graduates with honours and are hugely overqualified for the positions.

Sourcing locally

Another crucial aspect of the business for Huda and her team is that wherever available, the goods and services used by Zamn are bought from Palestinians. This includes all aspects of business, from the food (including cheeses from Jenin made with a secret recipe!) to the use of local rather than foreign consultants (for brand design, financing etc). For the few items where Palestinian producers don’t exist, suppliers at the least are pursued (and Huda is hoping to explore vertical integration opportunities as the business grows).

Business by the book…where the book exists

As a result of her buy local policies and the fact that Zamn is service oriented business means that the movement and access problems have a minimal effect on the business. However, in trying to do things ‘by the book’, something she believes is critical for Zamn’s credibility, things have not been easy. Particularly, she tells me, in areas when ‘the book just doesn’t exist’, because of the underdeveloped legal framework in the country. For instance, though Zamn is registered in Palestine, there are as yet no laws that govern franchising. So should Zamn wish to establish additional cafes –which it does – it will have undergo an additional registration process in Israel. Though hesitant to get too involved at the political level, part of the reason Huda took on this business venture was to help tackle some of these issues and is keen to help develop a franchising law if the opportunity arises.

The Future…

Though the café is only is only one month old, the Zamn management team have ambitious plans for expansion. Even as we chatted over coffee, parallel discussions between Huda and her partners were taking place on negotiations for an East Jerusalem venue. And though this expansion may be susceptible to a range of access, movement and legislative complications, for now Huda and her team remain excited, optimistic and extremely hopeful as to how far Zamn can stretch and what it can pioneer. Should their efforts really be able to forge a new model of entrepreneurship under such challenging circumstances, Zamn may not just be bringing better coffee to Palestine, but as its name suggests, a whole new era for the region with a hope of better days to come.