[Home & Living] From Brand Launch to Reaching Our First 2,000 Customers

The Nile River in Egypt is the longest in Africa and the second longest in the world . Thanks to this river, Egyptians have been able to access abundant natural resources centered around the Nile. Today, we met with Mohamed Hebala, CEO of Mandisa Naturals, a new home living brand that serves as a gateway to experiencing Egypt’s natural resources firsthand.

Why did he choose to debut his Egyptian natural products on wadiz? Hear the story of this maker, who secured an early fan base through his deep pride in high-quality ingredients.

A brand introducing natural products from Egypt,
Mendisa Naturals

Hello. I’m Mohamed Hebala, founder of Mandisa Naturals. Egypt is home to many famous natural resources—from lupah, which recently ran a funding campaign on wadiz, to olive oil, hibiscus, and natural salt. Mandisa Naturals creates products that focus on the inherent qualities of Egypt’s natural resources and introduces them to Korea.

We launched the brand with
we launched our brand with lupah

Rufa is a natural material and product used by the vast majority of Egyptians—so much so that it’s considered synonymous with “shower towel” in Egypt. My Korean wife has atopic dermatitis and is usually cautious about exfoliation, but after seeing me use Rufa, she tried it in the shower. She really loved it, saying it gently exfoliated her skin and got rid of the rough patches on her body.

That experience was the catalyst for starting our brand with Lufa. Since Egypt is a country rich in natural resources, particularly around the Nile River, I thought it could serve as a gateway to introduce products made from high-quality materials to Korea.

Rupa, the brand’s first product, is not only made from natural materials but also offers exceptional performance. However, I found that people in Korea weren’t even aware of its existence. While it’s possible to purchase it through overseas direct purchases, the prices are high, and there’s no guarantee that the product is actually from Egypt. Since it’s a staple item in Egypt, I felt confident introducing it, so I launched the brand alongside Rupa.

▶ Curious about Mandisa Naturals maker’s first funding campaign?

Since we’re introducing it to the Korean market,
we focused on meeting those standards

Quality was the most important factor for me when creating Rupa. IknewthatKorean customers are meticulous—they pay close attention to how products are made and whether the finish is clean and polished. That’s only natural, really. After all, home living products aren’t just for me—they’re for my whole family. In contrast, standards in Egypt tend to be lower than in Korea. So when I first saw the Rupa made in Egypt, I noticed many shortcomings. Since we were introducing it to the Korean market, that’s why we focused on raising the product’s quality to meet those standards.

Mandy’s Naturals’ Rupa is produced entirely in Egypt, from raw material selection to the finished product. Our motto was to complete every stage of production right there in Egypt. My wife and I were in Korea just as we were starting to produce the loofahs, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and we found ourselves unable to travel to Egypt. We had no choice but to review samples, make adjustments, and conduct re-inspections via courier and online. Aside from the cost, shipping took several weeks, causing repeated delays in the launch. While the situation presented many challenges, we’ve gone through that process, and I can confidently say that our current “Rupa” is by far the best product compared to any other “Rupa” on the market.

It was only possible because of our Wadiz supporters,
made possible by wadiz supporters

Since I majored in business administration, I already had some understanding of funding platforms. One day, a wadiz ad popped up on my Facebook feed. That’s when I started looking into the wadiz platform in detail. 

With my sister-in-law’s help, I did a lot of researchand comparisons, and I realized that wadiz supporters are open to trying new products.I felt it was the perfect platform to serve as a testing ground for natural Egyptian products—which might be unfamiliarin Korea—so we decided to launch our new product on wadiz. 

During the funding process, I had a hard time writing the story. (Laughs) I needed to effectively convey the characteristics and benefits of Lupa that we wanted to highlight, but it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought. I agonized over whether the story was good enough, but that’s when my father-in-law stepped in to help. I believed the story had to be easy for anyone to understand.

My master artisan is in his 50s, and whenever he read the Story and found the text hard to see or couldn’t follow the narrative, he’d stop reading. He gave us a lot of feedback, saying things like, “This part would be better as a video,” or “We need to improve the readability here.” Thanks to him, we were able to create a Story that’s easy to grasp at a glance. For those of you who, like us, struggle with writing stories, I recommend seeking feedback not only from friends but also from your parents’ generation. 

I’m confident that Rupa is moving in the right direction.

Even though this is our first product, over 2,000 supporters participated in the funding campaign. If I had to name the reasons, the first is that it’s already a product that’s widely loved in Egypt. Since the entire population uses and loves it, I was confident there would be a positive response in Korea as well.

Before the launch, my mother-in-law and her friends tried Rupa and gave us great reviews, which further solidified our confidence in the Korean market . Secondly, I believe it’s because we’re the only brand introducing natural products from Egypt.I think it would behard to find something like this not justin Korea , butanywhere in the world. (Laughs) I think this positive outcome is thanks to the brand’s uniqueness, which contrasts with the commonality of the materials. 

I’m confident that Lupa is moving in a better direction thanks to the support of so many of our supporters. For example, we used high-quality Egyptian cotton for the back of Lupa, but we received feedback that it didn’t dry well because of that.

Since the weather in Egypt is so dry, we never had that issue, but bathrooms in Korea aren’t very big and tend to get quite humid. As a result, people living alone who used the original Rupa started experiencing mold growth. We learned about these issues through our supporters’ reviews, and we improved the product by using a thinner fabric during our follow-up funding campaign.Every single reviewis a huge help in our product development.

We’ve gained the momentum to take the brand to the next level

Through wadiz, we met people who cheer for our vision, and gaining the momentum to carry Mandisa Naturals forward has been the biggest change for our brand . Our goal was to test the product through funding and gauge the response, and once we achieved that goal, we found the strength to keep moving forward.

Also , opening a store on wadiz and securing a consistent sales channelhas been a great opportunity for our brand operations. We figured that when people who’ve tried our products want to buy them again, wadiz would be the first place they’d look. Having an environment where repeat purchases can happen at any time has actually helped us in the process of preparing our next product.

Thankfully, we recently received the “Best Coziness” award at the wadiz AWARDS. From the moment I launched the Mandisa Naturals brand to preparing our first product, I received so much help from my family—starting with my wife, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law. I believe the reason we received the “Best Coziness” award is that everyone who worked hard for this brand and these products was family.After all, the bestcoziness comes from home and family. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my family. 

These days, I’ve been keeping quite busy—in a good way. With my sister-in-law’s help, I’m actively managing our wadiz store in Korea, and I’m also working on producing products for our next funding campaign. You’ll be able to experience our towels made with premium Egyptian cotton very soon. In Egypt, cotton is treated like gold, so the entire process—from the farm to production—is strictly regulated by the government. Since it’s a material with such reliable certification, we have high expectations for it. I look forward to seeing you again on wadiz for our upcoming funding campaign this spring. 

Written by Han Ji-hye

▶ This content was first featured on the wadiz blog. If you’re curious about more stories on the blog, click!