These entrepreneurs want to solve the hassle of lingerie shopping for women

Christina Ganim (left) and Nicola Isabel (right), founders of Kenz.

The intimate apparel industry in the Middle East is undermined by conservative attitudes towards women, but that doesn’t mean consumers desire these products any less than their western counterparts.

For example, until 2012, lingerie stores in Saudi Arabia were almost exclusively staffed by men.

As a result women never felt comfortable discussing underwear preferences or sizes. It took a royal decree by the Saudi king to ban men from working in these stores, finally ending decades of awkwardness and giving women some much needed relief.

But the problem still persists. According to Christina Ganim, co-founder of online lingerie marketplace Kenzwoman, there’s still a huge gap between what women want and what is available in markets across the Middle East.

Nearly 80 percent of women still wear bras that do not fit properly, she says. Not only does this affect the fit of everyday clothing, but it can also cause back pain and significant discomfort.

A screenshot of the Kenz store.

Kenz launched in October 2015 and is based in Ramallah, Palestine. Christina, along with her co-founder Nicola Isabel, started the company after experiencing several personal frustrations when it came to lingerie shopping.

“We could never find what we were looking for, either it never fit properly or the selection was limited or the quality was terrible. We thought, why not start a website that could be the one-stop-shop for bras in the Middle East and bring quality undergarments to the region,” she adds.

From games to bras

Christina and Nicola both have a prior background in tech, having worked as project managers at a mobility solutions startup in Ramallah prior to launching the venture. Christina, who graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies, says she also took online courses to teach herself how to publish games on app stores.

The idea is to build a community of women.

These games continue to get downloads and earn her revenue, but she wanted to do something she was “more passionate about.” Hence the pivot to lingerie ecommerce.

The Kenz site is entirely in Arabic but Christina says that’s a business decision taken by the team.