Question Regarding expanding our business in USA

[e_badawi]

Hello all,
Me and my wife/business partner @Menna ibrahim are thinking about expanding our diving business from Egypt to USA.

We are Americans from NJ, moved and operating in Egypt for the past 3 years.
We have good traction from Germany and Russia. And we would like to expand our base here in America.

Any thoughts and feedback will be greatly appreciated.

 

[tursiops]

To my knowledge, there are zero direct flights from the United States to Egypt.

You can fly on Egyptair direct from JFK and IAD to CAI.

 

[SelfDiver]

Um, you might want to re-read OP's first post:

Hello all,
Me and my wife/business partner @Menna ibrahim are thinking about expanding our diving business from Egypt to USA.

We are Americans from NJ, moved and operating in Egypt for the past 3 years.
We have good traction from Germany and Russia. And we would like to expand our base here in America.

Any thoughts and feedback will be greatly appreciated.

He's posted previously about an established diving operation in Egypt, the "Splash Boat". He may indeed be doing "stealth advertising" with this thread, but that's not how I read it.

I eat crayons and dribble when doing 1+2.
I read this as expanding their direct bookings, but I now realize it can be read as expanding diving operations.

I'm just another idiot on the internet.

 

[SpeedyJ]

I eat crayons and dribble when doing 1+2.
I read this as expanding their direct bookings, but I now realize it can be read as expanding diving operations.

I'm just another idiot on the internet.

Crayon eaters have the best budget tasting menus out there - $3.99 for 64 courses!

 

[Allen-1]

I eat crayons and dribble when doing 1+2.
I read this as expanding their direct bookings, but I now realize it can be read as expanding diving operations.

I'm just another idiot on the internet.

You and me and lots of others.

 

[e_badawi]

There really isn't a shortage of instructors in the area relative to the number of divers. On the recreational diving front, there are tons of weekend PADI warriors working for their local shops.

On the tech front, I live in Chicago, and am either first or second degree connections with a good portion of the active technical divers in the area... in an area of 9.4 Million people. The active instructors run a handful of tech classes per year and there are at least 5 different CCR instructors in the region. Just like everywhere else, there are good instructors and bad instructors in the bunch. We have a UTD instructor in the region, and a GUE community that brings instructors through each year as well for those who are looking for different training options.

From where I sit, there doesn't seem to be unmet demand, and if there was, I'm not sure a red sea tech diver would be my first choice for training in our <50*F water.

You have valid points. Only one way to find out how it could turn out.

 

[e_badawi]

As an American and literally the only person I personally know who is ever been to Egypt (for any reason), I would reinforce that.

When I tell people I went to Egypt for a scuba trip they look at me like I have three heads. Their usual reaction is something like: “why on earth would you go to Egypt?“ Not because they don’t think of Egypt as a scuba destination, though that is certainly part of it. But mainly because they think of Egypt as a wildly dangerous and uncomfortable place for Americans to go.

Now, I don’t agree with this. Which is why I went to Egypt for a liveaboard! But it’s closer to the truth than many people would like. For example, seeing multiple guards armed with fully automatic weapons moving money from an armored car into a bank is not a typical experience for an American. Having English be no better than the third most common language (behind Arabic and Russian!) is also not comfortable for an American. Having travel to Egypt being marked by the US State department with a level three advisory (reconsider travel) due to terrorism is not comfortable for an American.

So I can tell you that you are already going to be starting at a significant disadvantage. You’re going to have to dig your sales process out of the very deep hole that it will already start in for the average American.

Plus, there’s lots of logistical difficulties. To my knowledge, there are zero direct flights from the United States to Egypt. Every flight I could find required literally an overnight layover in an airport in Europe. Not something most people are going to be willing to do. I ended up taking a flight from Toronto direct to Egypt, but that required me to take a bus from Detroit to Toronto and spend an extra night in Toronto. I enjoyed it as part of the adventure; most people won’t put up with that kind of nonsense.

And if you don’t plan any kind of tie in with your existing Egyptian business, then your business really isn’t going to be any different than any of the other established scuba businesses already here in the United States. Most of which are struggling, and the market seems to be shrinking each day. Maybe you have an established product and process in Egypt that will translate well to the United States. But given the incredibly different economic and political climate, I find that somewhat unlikely. But hey, I’ve been wrong before.

Good insights indeed.
Just few comments on my side. There are daily direct flights to Egypt from multiple airports. JFK, EWR, and IAD just to mention few.

As an American who lived in Egypt now above 3 years, I can confidently say that English speakers are everywhere (with accent though) but indeed they speak the language.

Safety and security is pretty solid. and moving money between banks shall never be the absolute measure of safety. One street in Newark has many weapons with individuals than the total of all personal Egyptian personal guns together!

Of course, a part of my plan to eventually take divers on well planned trips to Egypt as a direct organic growth for Hurghada Splash Boat.
The Red Sea is indeed THE best diving destination in the world. And many divers would like to have such an experience if well planned and organized safely and responsibly with all inclusive packages which not only cover diving as a single activity. But also hotel stays.

But as few contributors already mentioned, some areas almost has very limited access to quality "Full Time" instructors. That could be one way to get in.

Then see how things are going from there. There is only one way to find out.
The disadvantages you mentioned are given for anyone like to step into a new playground regardless where they are coming from.
Few months or even a whole year at the loss side is given for any new business. then the "S" curve goes in action.

 

[e_badawi]

I may have been mistaken but my assumption was that OP wants to offer dive trips in Egypt for divers traveling from the US.
I think a booking office or partnership with existing dive operators makes sense. Learn tech diving in 80°F water while on vacation. Egypt has 100m shore diving. Come home and learn drysuit in the great lakes.

You can get a similar deal in Florida and Mexico, but Egypt is deep without the overhead environment. I prefer Bonaire.

And he still has not answered any questions. So maybe this thread is stealth advertising

I did answer your questions throughout the thread of replies

Anyways, a partnership will be something to consider. But I put my money where my mouth is. It is almost impossible to establish such partnerships without personal interaction especially from that far.
So, having a solid base is one way to reach that target indeed.

Egypt has a lot of advantages when it comes to easy safe depth, and excellent visibility and temperature almost all year round.

 

[e_badawi]

I eat crayons and dribble when doing 1+2.
I read this as expanding their direct bookings, but I now realize it can be read as expanding diving operations.

I'm just another idiot on the internet.

We are in fact interested to do both. Expanding our operations which will directly translated into direct booking to Hurghada Splash Boat.

 

[tiacalypso]

As an American and literally the only person I personally know who is ever been to Egypt (for any reason), I would reinforce that.

When I tell people I went to Egypt for a scuba trip they look at me like I have three heads. Their usual reaction is something like: “why on earth would you go to Egypt?“ Not because they don’t think of Egypt as a scuba destination, though that is certainly part of it. But mainly because they think of Egypt as a wildly dangerous and uncomfortable place for Americans to go.

Now, I don’t agree with this. Which is why I went to Egypt for a liveaboard! But it’s closer to the truth than many people would like. For example, seeing multiple guards armed with fully automatic weapons moving money from an armored car into a bank is not a typical experience for an American. Having English be no better than the third most common language (behind Arabic and Russian!) is also not comfortable for an American. Having travel to Egypt being marked by the US State department with a level three advisory (reconsider travel) due to terrorism is not comfortable for an American.

So I can tell you that you are already going to be starting at a significant disadvantage. You’re going to have to dig your sales process out of the very deep hole that it will already start in for the average American.

Plus, there’s lots of logistical difficulties. To my knowledge, there are zero direct flights from the United States to Egypt. Every flight I could find required literally an overnight layover in an airport in Europe. Not something most people are going to be willing to do. I ended up taking a flight from Toronto direct to Egypt, but that required me to take a bus from Detroit to Toronto and spend an extra night in Toronto. I enjoyed it as part of the adventure; most people won’t put up with that kind of nonsense.

And if you don’t plan any kind of tie in with your existing Egyptian business, then your business really isn’t going to be any different than any of the other established scuba businesses already here in the United States. Most of which are struggling, and the market seems to be shrinking each day. Maybe you have an established product and process in Egypt that will translate well to the United States. But given the incredibly different economic and political climate, I find that somewhat unlikely. But hey, I’ve been wrong before.

I really like your nuanced reply. I am European and spend 5ish weeks in Egypt, diving, every year and I have encountered a few Americans and Canadians, usually on LOB. When I am in Hurghada, I usually dive from Splash which is the OP‘s boat as per his signature. Splash always provided really good service to me and really good diving. I also know world record holder Ahmed Gabr occasionally dives with them. So I have no input about how they could expand their American customer base but I want to put in a good word for the crew of Splash.

 

[tursiops]

I have no input about how they could expand their American customer base

That was not their question. They wanted to know how/where to start a dive operation in the US.

Opening a branch of our operations in let's say Florida.