For founder Amal Soliman and her daughter Gina El Kattan, food and agriculture are woven so intricately into their lives that they believe it is passed through their bloodline. The family, including Soliman’s husband and son, moved to Canada from Egypt in 2011. They left behind a successful family-run business, as well as countless loved ones and the community they had grown up with in pursuit of new opportunities. 

Was it difficult? Incredibly. They had visited Canada only once previously and were unsure of what to expect. “Once we received our approval and documents, we were ready to go,” recalls Soliman. “But we had no idea where we would move, what cities to consider, or even what we would do when we arrived. It was a stressful process.”

Soliman, who holds a PhD in agriculture and has over 20 years experience in product development and manufacturing, had been working alongside her father on a very successful food export business, but wanted to focus on her kids as they settled into their new lives. And El Kattan was preparing to attend the University of Toronto to pursue a business degree after reading that it was the top school in Canada—and then proceeded to stress about whether or not she would succeed.

While both mother and daughter possessed the entrepreneurial spirit, neither anticipated that they would be launching a business within two years. Nuba Tisane, a beverage company that infuses herbs and spices in hot water, started to take shape in 2013. And in 2021 they landed a coveted spot on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, where they pitched their company, and were propositioned by three of Canada’s top business moguls each wanting a stake. 3 spoke with the mother-daughter duo about their journey to Canada and how they brewed up a successful business. 

How did the idea of Nuba Tisane come to life?

Community and hospitality are very important to Middle Eastern culture. When we moved here, we knew no one, but we were always opening our door to neighbours and new friends. In Egypt, whenever someone came to visit, we would make hibiscus tea; we called it a “welcome drink.” So we did the same thing here, and everyone really liked it. That’s what really sparked the idea. It’s natural to hold onto your roots and Nuba just felt like a very natural extension of that. 

What did the process of starting a new business look like?

We went into it very naively. We wanted a very authentic and high-quality product that spoke to our heritage, and we didn’t want to cut any corners. It was important to us to brew the real flowers instead of using a concentrate, and it was a challenge figuring out how to do that. We were really very new to Canada and pretty unfamiliar with so many things. We ended up going to breweries because nobody else had the equipment to do what we wanted. We now have our own processing plant in Oakville, Ontario but it has truly been a labour of love. 

Where do you source the hibiscus flowers?

We first brought the dried flowers to Canada with us when we moved. At that time, there weren’t many Middle Eastern stores around us, and the hibiscus that we found here was like dust in bags. Since we are from a region where good quality hibiscus flowers grow, we knew we had something better to share. 

Our goal was to find the most premium flowers. We ended up working directly with one or two small farmers in Nuba, a region in southern Egypt. It’s something we’ve been really passionate about.

You’ve mentioned how important it is to you to be able to give back to these farmers. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

It’s mostly women that do the picking and the drying of the hibiscus, so we worked with a local NGO to create a specialized facility. Instead of doing it in their own homes, the women now come to one facility where we have a lot more quality control. 

We’ve now grown to support around 30 small farmers in Egypt. Since we’re working directly with the farmers, we can give them a much bigger margin than they normally would have. It’s been very rewarding and fulfilling for us to be able to make an impact. And it makes business sense as well; we can really boast about the quality of our flowers.

The luxe juice market is huge right now. What makes Nuba different?

We use all raw ingredients and everything is freshly brewed. We use fresh hibiscus, of course, and for our flavours of the Middle East line, we use real tamarind, apricot, etc. It’s not just sugar and water, and there are no fillers. 

Nobody else in North America is making and selling these traditional drinks. People appreciate the homemade feel because we literally make it exactly like you would at home. 

Has Nuba allowed you the chance to form a greater connection with the Egyptian community?

Absolutely! We’ve received so much support from the Egyptian community and the Middle Eastern community. It’s really awesome to see—especially when Dragon’s Den came out— people emailing and messaging us to say “we’re so proud of you” and “we’re really excited to see everything that you’re doing.” And that really means a lot.

And in Egypt, we’ve forged relationships with the people that we work with and everyone is growing right alongside us. It’s really an amazing thing that we get to do and experience. We take it seriously. Since we started, we haven’t cut any corners in our formula, our ingredient list [or] production standards even though it would make production a lot easier. 

What was it like to pitch the Dragons?

We started watching the show ever since we moved to Canada, so it was definitely very nerve-racking. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare between our audition and filming, but we really tried our best. Gina was in the first year of her MBA program [at Duke University] and had just finished her final exam before she flew back to Toronto to film the next day. It wasn’t easy, but it was a great experience.

What’s next for Nuba?

We launched in the U.S. a couple of months ago, which was really exciting. And Ramadan is coming up, which is a busy time of year for us. Hibiscus tea is the traditional drink that we have when breaking our fast. Because Ramadan is so much about community, generosity and hospitality, this “welcome drink” really is a staple. 

What’s it like working together as a family? 

We have our moments. It’s obviously a really special experience to get to do this with a parent. One of the reasons that we work well together is because we have different responsibilities: Mom is more on the production side and Gina does the marketing and sales side. But we both work hard and we both believe that the other is the more stubborn one!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.