Ismail Abu Taqiyya

Ismail Abu Taqiyya was a wealthy Egyptian merchant from Syria who made a fortune importing coffee. During his lifetime, use of coffee started to spread across the Middle East, from Yemen to Egypt, thanks to Sufis who drank it to stay awake during their nocturnal worship services. Recognizing business potential, Taqiyya started to promote its consumption by building coffeehouses. He was also very successful in efforts to revive sugarcane production of Egypt. Sugarcane refineries produced sugar which was afterwards sold in the country and wider Mediterranean. At running the business Taqiyya relied on numerous partnership which were small, independent and geographically diverse. After his death Taqiyya’s business collapsed as well.