The Nile Co.

The Nile Co.
The company behind the introduction of the paving is of no small interest. Although its identity is known—namely, The Nile Co.—much about its association with the paving remains obscure. There is, in fact, only one document linked to the paving: an advertisement. Remarkably, this surfaced only through extraordinary good fortune, as detailed in a 1 June 2016 email below, and it remains outside the public domain. It was nearly lost, and without it, the fundamentals of the story could not otherwise be told.
Although The Nile Co. maintains an extensive online presence—via its website, Instagram, and Facebook (though not Twitter)—this is decidedly focused on contemporary tile products rather than historical documents or photographs. Only a handful of archival glimpses appear, mostly featuring the company’s founder, the late Ibrahim Abdel Hafiz (1942–2005). There are also six online catalogues from 2016, again modern in nature, with limited and repetitive historical references.
That said, the company website does offer a concise historical overview, from which the text below draws liberally. Given the scarcity of detail, every scrap of historical information is necessarily examined for possible insight.

A History:
The Nile Co. was founded in 1942 by Ibrahim Abdel Hafiz, a pioneering Egyptian industrialist who personally ran the company’s operations for over 60 years. In continuous operation for over 70 years, the family-run business has built its reputation on the quality of its products, advanced manufacturing techniques, and the trust placed in its name. It was founded as a general partnership company in 1942, then as a joint stock company (S.A.E) in 1986.
In the 1930s & 40s, the Nile Co. was the first to import brick and tile manufacturing machinery, revolutionizing the industry in Egypt which until that time had relied on manual production. It was the first factory in Egypt and the Middle East to make cement tile products in 1943, innovating and adapting the Italian machinery to handle local raw materials; an innovation that was later adopted by the Italian manufacturer and introduced in all future machinery. Throughout the 1950s & 60s the Nile Co., working with a team of Italian engineers and the Ministry of Industry, revolutionized the Egyptian tile industry by breaking records in quality standards and production capacities.
However, this is, understandably, a broad, overall description, without paving detail as such, although they do indeed have more than the Cairo tiling paver in their range. From what I now know, it's more of a tiling company rather than a paver one (and always has been?).

The Ad
As alluded to above, there is only one document: an advertisement from the time the paving was initiated (revealed to be 1957), shown below (Fig. 1). It is not entirely clear whether this was intended for a newspaper, brochure, or flier. Quite simply, whatever the outlet, it is indispensable.
The ad was kindly supplied by Nadia Abdel Hafiz, Chairman of The Nile Co. board, following a search of the company archives prompted by investigations from Yasmine Dorghamy. She has become interested in the paving, having long quietly admired it without knowing its significance.
Naturally, the ad is in Arabic, and Yasmine—fluent in both Arabic and English—undertook its translation. The different aspects of the ad are identified by numbered annotations in my additions.

1. The date: 2 November 1957 - This has been added by the person who collected the advert
2. Company logo including stylization of the company name pronounced ‘an-Neel’ in Arabic
3. Nile Company for Supply of Architectural Materials
4. Ibrahim Abdel Hafez and his company
5. announce the introduction of their new product
6. in 7 colours (The large V shape is numeral 7)
7. Pentagonal paving tiles
8. For: The Borders of Swimming Pools, Gardens, Petrol Stations
9. Registered (as a patent) in the name of the company under number 451
10. Designed by the architectural engineer Amiralay Ramzy Omar (the title ‘engineer’ may be a purely honorary or symbolic title – it might not mean that he was a practising engineer.)
11. 21 Sixth Street (below the cement plant). The preposition here, like the preposition in English, has a variety of meanings and could mean either beneath or beyond or beside
12. T for telephone numbers 49851 – 79483 – 807604 – 803239

Numerous aspects here is of fundamental importance! This includes:
(1) The date of instigation, 1957
(3) The company, The Nile Co.
(4) The owner, Ibrahim Abdel Hafez
(9) Is registered as a patent, no 451
(10) The designer, Ramzy Omar

Further, the other detail, although not fundamental, is nonetheless of undoubted interest as to background matters:
(6) The number of available colours, seven
(8) Its purpose, of borders of swimming pools, gardens, and petrol stations

Much is now established from this document. However, if possible, I would still like to know more! Sadly, Ibrahim Abdel Hafez is no longer with us. However, the new leader, Nadia Abdel Hafiz, still is, but is not obviously contactable. I am told she does not do email (detailed below, in an 18 February 2016 email).

Company Archives
It would be of interest to examine the company archives. However, quite simply, there appears to be very little—if anything at all—as detailed in the 30 November 2015 email below. It remains unclear whether any formal archives exist, or to what extent.
The absence of historical images on their online platforms suggests such materials may be scarce. This may simply reflect the company’s emphasis on promoting current products, with historical matters considered of lesser relevance. Perhaps so—who can say.
Below are a few other documents from the archives. Can anyone translate these, or identify any relevant details related to Cairo tiling? Even a negative observation would be of use.

Unresolved Aspects of the Ad
Although much can be gleaned from the above advertisement, certain elements remain only partly revealed, with several aspects still unresolved. The background of the designer, Ramzy Omar, can now be shared—see the dedicated page on him.

The ad mentions Patent 451, which remains one of the key unresolved matters. It is likely that this patent would provide further detail. A search of the Egyptian patent site proved unsuccessful, possibly because the available records only date from recent years. Perhaps earlier entries are still awaiting digitisation.

Yasmine Dorghamy and Nadia Abdel Hafiz Interactions
As alluded to above, the kind assistance of Yasmine and Nadia has been a godsend. From correspondence with Yasmine, a few excerpts of the most relevant aspects of their interaction:

29 November 2015
….I asked around and followed some leads and eventually, after some investigative work I found the doyenne of the tile industry in Egypt. Her company is the oldest that is still operational (est. 1943) and she's also the oldest person in the industry herself, as she took the helm of the company after her father's passing. I spoke to her and her and to her senior foreman and they told me that this style existed as early the 40s* and they produced it themselves well into the early 70s. But they could not recall specific examples of the earliest ones and they have no reason to believe that someone in their company had created the pattern. They didn't keep archives in the early days and tell me no one else did either, so it would be "practically impossible" to find out who drew the first pattern.
However, she said that if I were to make one last try it would be at the Center for Research of Building Supplies, a big governmental labyrinth. I'll see if I can go or find someone to call there..
*This recollection is surely incorrect, given the ad detail of a 1957 instigation. Of note is the production into the early 1970s.

30 November 2015
She tells me they kept no records in the old days, so I doubt there will be anything more than vague memories there.
...Nadia Abdel Hafiz had told me, which is that these tiles were made only by hand, and with the advent of automated production, they vanished.
Interestingly, this gives a reason for the cessation of the paving (and see the following email).

18 February 2016
The doyenne [Nadia] doesn't do email unfortunately... You have better chances with her younger relative. I don't think there's much there anyway.. They have no records of anything before the 70s or 80s if I remember correctly... What she told me was that the HBRC are the ones who have old records of everything re: building specifications. Or they *should* have. ...
The paving has indeed stopped being made, because it is made by hand and takes too long to lay out, however she told me if I want *custom* made tiles she can use a model and make one for me.  It would just cost a lot of money.
Again, this gives a reason for the cessation of the paving.

1 June 2016
So I get this call from a Nadia Abdel Hafiz, I wasn't going to answer because I forgot who that was, but I did.. Then she didn't know who I was on the other end of the line either because she had called me by accident because she couldn't find her glasses and dialed the wrong number...
Anyway! I answered and asked her who she was, and she told me she was the tile lady, I told her I was the pentagonal tile girl and she goes "YASMINE! I HAD FOUND WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR AND COULDN'T REMEMBER YOUR FULL NAME TO FIND YOU AND CALL YOU! I'M SO GLAD I CALLED YOU BY ACCIDENT!"
And she sent me a photo of an ad, from 1957 for those tiles that has a patent number for the design and a name of the designer who created it a "Ramzi Omar"
I've attached it and gotta run now. But couldn't wait till I got home to send it to you :)
The ‘Rosetta Stone’ email. Amazing! The enthusiasm of both parties here is heartwarming!

Open Questions:
(i) To any ex-employee of The Nile Co. who remembers the paving: could you share your memories and any photos you may have?
(ii) Though it may seem a minor detail, it would nonetheless be fascinating to see the mould used to produce the paving. Surely, many such moulds must exist. Has anyone seen a photograph of one?
(iii) Does anyone know more about Patent No. 451, which remains one of the key unresolved matters?
(iv) The paving does not appear to be mass-produced today, although it was photographed as recently as 2015 in their Zamalek showroom (see Fig. 4 below). I understand that, as of 2020, it is produced only occasionally. This suggests that production is still ongoing, albeit on a limited scale.

As ever, an open plea for more detail. No detail is too small to mention.

Acknowledgements
Nadia Abdel Hafiz, for looking in the company archives.
Yasmine Dorghamy, for drawing the ad to my attention.
Ramy Alsabag, for the Zamalek showroom pictures. 

Page History. 14 August 2025. Reappraisal in New Sites.  No major changes of note were made. The conversion has left spaces between blocks of text, which I close. The captions had been 'loose', now attached.  Checked in Grammarly, and corrected accordingly. Parts of the text were improved in Copilot.

Page Created 9 December 2020