Inspiring Mompreneur no 2: Nada El Hawary

Mompreneur No 2: Nada El Hawary

Founder of “The Honeymoon Factory”

Nada , a mother of 2, is the founder of “The Honeymoon Factory”, a travel agency, specialized in honeymoon planning & advising.
After graduating, Nada joined her family’s Travel business and soon she realized that handling “Hajj & Omra ” trips , which was her father’s specialization for long years, was not her cup of tea. Therefore she started another separate agency selling holiday packages in Egypt to other countries. In a couple of years and after some trials and errors, she was able to hold onto some solid contracts with travel agencies in India & South Africa, which brought a regular flow of tourists to egypt for 3 consecutive years. Then the revolution of January 2011 took place and the travel business literally died. All contracts got cancelled and no traveller under the sun considered Egypt as a potential holiday destination… By mere chance, Nada found herself in a situation where she had to help a couple who were planning their honeymoon. The agency they’ve originally booked with had closed and now they were left with airline tickets and hotel bookings but with no clear plans of what to do during their trip. That was when the light bulb turned on and Nada realized that no matter what happens, couples still get married and go for honeymoons. Nothing can stop that… “That’s when I decided to open a sister agency only specializing in honeymoon planning… Been 7 years now and we became so well established in this area, with a very good reputation ,thank God”, she explained.

With a highly demanding job that requires a lot of traveling, balancing between being a mother, a wife and an entrepreneur can be quite troublesome. “Perfection is unattainable, you can never be a super mom, a successful business woman and a perfect wife. So you have to accept that you’ll compromise things. So I try to balance my compromises. If I stay at work late for one day, I try to spend more time with my kids the next day. I have a very understanding and supportive husband, a very helpful mom & mother in law and a super dedicated and trustworthy office manager. Their support is what honestly keeps me going. We at the honeymoon factory don’t just offer hotels and flights. We make a full plan for every couple. So we don’t work on countries we didnt launch.. and what a better way to launch a destination than to visit it with your husband (sometimes with the kids as well), to inspect hotels and experience everything as we will sell it afterwards. When I leave my kids and travel alone, I make sure to return back with lots of toys, dresses & chocolates, usually this would do the trick. Then of course spend a good quality time with them when I return back. “ added Nada.
We asked Nada, what is her secret to success and what advice would she give to other mommies who want to start their own businesses. She pinpointed the importance of paying attention to details and always facing the problems. According to Nada, if a mother wants to be an entrepreneur, she has to make sure that her husband is truly supportive. Many men claim that they believe in their wives but once the women sail their own boats, they realize that it is not ok as they thought, and they suddenly become cranky. “Trust me, nothing is worse than a cranky and grumpy husband, who won’t miss a chance to remind you how much you’ve compromised him and your kids to seek your career path. Even if he used to help you on some house chores, he’ll start pulling out reminding you that its your primary role. No matter how hard you’re trying to fulfill all the gaps..you will always be a failure and he’ll always make u feel guilty” explained Nada.