Inspired by their grandfather’s skills in traditional craftsmanship, the owners of a Doha-based startup participating in Bedaya Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development's Ramadan Dukan are creating a unique line of home decor that reflect Arabic tradition and culture.

The designs of the products from fledgling startup, ‘Aseela’, by Abdelrahman Safwat and Ahmed Sayed, are derived from the works of their grandfather, Mahmoud Ibrahim, who used to create metal trays in his workshop back in the 1970s.
Established in Doha three years ago, Aseela is a family-run startup that specialises in various home decor such as trays, tables, and different types of boxes, as well as notebooks using recycled materials. The designs and colours of each collection are unique and mainly reflect Arabic tradition. For Aseela’s latest collection, each product represents Qatari tradition and culture.
Aseela’s creations are mostly available on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, but for those who want to see their collections up-close, some of the products are available at Dukan Bedaya located at Katara – The Cultural Village. According to Aseela, the Bedaya Centre “is the perfect place” for budding entrepreneurs who want to learn how to develop their companies and to market and promote products.
Only recently, Bedaya announced that a new group of small and emerging entrepreneurs had joined the centre’s ‘Ramadan Dukan’, an initiative that was launched last year in collaboration with Katara, and their projects are being appreciated by the visitors to the cultural village during the holy month.
Bedaya’s Ramadan Dukan started receiving application from participants prior to the start of the holy month in order to give as many startups the opportunity to showcase their products and projects, and to promote them effectively during Ramadan daily from 9pm to 1am, the centre said in a statement.
Since the start of Ramadan, Dukan Bedaya has witnessed the participation of various projects and startup businesses working in different fields and selling various products ranging from clothes for children and adults, abayas, traditional outfits, kitchenware, stationary, male and female accessories, mobile accessories, and home accessories, in addition to health-related startups, the statement added. 


Some of the wooden trays on display
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A table from some of Aseela's collections.

Bedaya Centre general manager Reem al-Sowaidi said, “Through Dukan Bedaya, we seek to provide all the needed support for small and medium-sized businesses by introducing their products in an innovative and pioneering way to attract visitors and introduce them to those products. These projects are changing every two weeks to allow the largest number of entrepreneurs to participate and introduce their projects.
“Dukan Bedaya creates the opportunity for the emergence of new projects and ideas that will provide the local market with national products. Beside every exhibitor at Dukan Bedaya there is a small ‘about us’ brief, giving visitors all the additional information about the exhibitor, the line of business he or she is operating, and the product itself. A large number of young volunteers are working at Dukan Bedaya, who has been carefully selected by the management of the centre.”

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