Booktips 6th anniversary: A great team survived Covid-19

This article is written to document the past 9 months. The hardest period since we started the company. I was reluctant to talk, not because I have nothing to say but because I have too many important things to be said. I will do my best to talk briefly in 9 points:

1- This celebration is so special because it means that our company survived the pandemic. Too many companies stronger and bigger than our company closed. Adding to that, most of the new companies close during the first 5 years. So, we can celebrate.

2. Ten members since the beginning of the pandemic are still working and around the same number left. I think they did the rational thing. I was sad, but I know that they took the rational decision.

3- This online celebration is made for the 10 members who stayed in the company during the crisis for one month and half. Some of them accepted to take half of the salary and some of them were told that we can’t pay their salaries at all, but they can take unpaid vacation until we fix things.

4- The result was that seven interns left right after they were told that the rest of the internship will be unpaid. Two interns stayed, and they are among the best calibers who are working at Booktips since we started. They are Marina and Maryam. I can say that Maryam knows the company from her sister Iman that we are a good company and we don’t manipulate or deceive anyone to work without taking a salary, but Marina’s situation was impressive for me because she trusted the company regardless of the fact that she has just joined the company.

5- Two full time members did bad unethical things. I don’t think it would be good to waste your time reading two bad stories.

6- As I mentioned before this event is made for the ten members who stayed in the company because if they hadn’t stayed, there wouldn’t have been an event this year because the company would have closed or the team would have 100% changed. There wouldn’t be anything to celebrate or thank the new team for.

7- The ten members spent a total of one thousand and four hundred and fifty hours. They sacrificed around thirty six thousand pounds. We are in a better situation now, but they never thought about asking for their money. I am grateful for all of them but I have to put three of them in a different category. All of us are important, but I will deceive you if I say that the importance of each one is equal. Iman Mahmoud, Eman Hammam, and Lojaina. They sacrificed around 40% of the total hours and salaries. I am grateful for all of you, but I have to be honest regarding these three people, but all of you are really great. Greatness has levels. Sara, Hajar, Salma Ahmed, Farida, Marina, Maryam, and Salma Behairy, I am really grateful for all of you. Please, check the hall of fame page on the company’s website.

8- It’s very tempting to pay around forty thousand pounds to someone who didn’t ask for it, but surely you deserve more than this. The total deductions have been refunded, and that what inspired me to choose the theme of our 6th anniversary: #Money_is_cheap. Sorry for choosing a story from football, but it’s the closest to what I wanted to express. Albert’s assist or pass to Ronaldo wasn’t just a pass but it’s what put Ronaldo in the position to start his fantastic career as an athlete. The same for the 10 members who stayed during the crisis. What you sacrificed wasn’t just 36 thousand pounds or one thousand and five hundred hours, it was what gave me and Booktips another chance to think again about what happened to fix the problem. If all of you had left, the company would have been closed by now. I will be honest with you. When I talked to my mother, she told me, “I advised you to work in a bank, and you should do that now.” My father asked me what if my first plan didn’t work.” You all just trusted me that I will be able to fix everything without any guarantees. Whatever the reason that made you wait or trust that things will be fixed -even if you were searching for a job and failed- I am still grateful for you.

9- What I aspire to do during the rest of 2021 is to extend the health insurance system to cover everything with the highest possible quality of medical service and automate part of our service process.

I know that the new system is a little bit stressful but it enables us to keep our policy of not firing any member because of a performance issue and to sustain the company. These are the top highlights for our 6th anniversary celebration.