It’s a windy day at Cairo’s newest cafe, Left Bank, but with pristine glass barriers, inside it is cool and comfortable. Mai Abaza, one of the co-founders of Publicist Inc. details their newest client, offering well brewed tea.

She is calm, collected and on top of her game. Abaza and her new company has arrived in Egypt. And their efforts to promote and choreograph some of Cairo’s elite establishments has been daunting, but they have succeeded where so many others failed. At its core, Publicist is filling a void that other PR companies have failed to do in Egypt over the past few years: they are hands on, in the field and mixing with the right people.

“It’s our combined years of experience across a number of PR & communication practice areas,” Abaza told Bikyamasr.com.

“We’ve been professionally trained and ‘doused’ in the international standards of the PR profession, and that’s what we’re bringing to the table for businesses in Egypt,” she added.

Publicist Inc is a Cairo-based boutique public relations agency specializing in corporate communications and digital strategies. The company was recently launched to help organizations build better PR campaigns that create real impact.

The Publicists behind the venture, Rania Helmy, Abaza and Mohamed Gad El Hak, “developed their experience and contacts working around the Middle Easton campaigns for the likes of Coca-Cola, Vodafone and Virgin Megastores, and founded Publicist inc. to bring international standards to communications consulting in Egypt.”

They say the way that digital communications is impacting business bottom lines is no longer negligible. Even with relatively low adoption and penetration rates compared with the size of the Egyptian population, the amount of influence that the ‘online’ population has over corporate reputation has proven its immense power.

They hope to keep moving forward.

“The most important expansion channel for us will be digital communications, and consulting with clients on how to transform their business and to ‘think online’. It’s not an easy transformation, because it requires a shift in corporate culture, and the buy-in of the top decision makers,” added Abaza.

“What we really want to do is get companies to think of digital communications as an integral part of their business, and not just a marketing function.”

Businesses worldwide are moving towards integration of their digital communications strategies with the entire company’s operation, and not just treating it as a marketing activity. This is the way forward and will lead to a real shift in corporate culture.

“We’re looking forward to introducing compelling communications campaigns that deliver results and shift the conversations to our clients’ favor. We are very excited to be launching our offer and believe that the PR industry is yet to grow in the future. We aim to lead that evolution and in so doing, demonstrate how effective communication is a cornerstone to success in any business,” said Helmy in a press statement announcing Publicist to the country.

While they might be going up against some of the biggest names in PR, for those companies who want a small, cohesive team of experienced and knowledgeable professionals, Publicist hopes that void will be filled by their team.