Business Entertaining in Egypt

Egyptians prize themselves on their sense of hospitality. Great hospitality reflects well on the host and you can expect to be well looked after during any trip to visit business contacts in the country.

If invited to an event, accept. To refuse an invitation could be perceived as a snub to the host. As would be expected in a strongly relationship-oriented culture, it can be difficult to get to the point of having a strong enough connection with somebody to do business with them until a certain amount of socializing has been performed.

Entertaining will invariably happen at a good restaurant in modern-day Egypt. Be prepared for large feasts with massive amounts of food. You should try to leave a little food on your plate at the end of a meal for fear of offending the host by implying that he hasn’t offered sufficient to meet your appetite. It is unlikely, but not impossible, that alcohol will be offered.

Always eat and pass food plates with your right hand as the left hand is considered unclean. (It would be quite insulting to pass food with the left hand.) Food is in fact often eaten with the right hand.

A service charge of 12% is very often included in restaurant bills but an extra 10% should be given in cash directly to the waiter.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture.  Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Australia only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Egypt only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.