Nader Habib finds out that the games kids play have changed Aged only 10, Dina is smart and savvy, and spends her time playing games of her own creation. She thinks there's no point in just playing around like other children, without making any profit. And so she runs her game-based business. "Watching the salesman at the sweets kiosk in our school counting his profits made me dream of setting up a kiosk of my own in the house," Dina told Al-Ahram Weekly. After securing her mother's consent, Dina set about realising her dream and started selling sweets to her parents and her brother. To finance the project, Dina doesn't ask her mother for any extra pocket money to buy the sweets. Instead, she has used LE20 from her savings, and another LE20 saved up by her younger brother Rami, who has agreed to act as her partner and room delivery boy. She has converted part of her room into a kiosk, complete with a hand-painted sign and a telephone number to access the delivery service. So successful is their venture that Dina and Rami have literally monopolised the supply of sweets to the house. To have any dessert, one needs to call them. And honest businesspeople they are too, for they will show up with the merchandise, take the order, and share the profits. "We live in a new age, and everything is changing around us, even children's toys," said sociology professor Madiha El-Safti. In effect, Dina's business instinct is born out of our own consumerism. "The media bombards us with commercials about things we didn't have in the 1980s, and which we seem unable today to do without," El-Safti added. The sociology expert meanwhile urged parents to instill values in their children other than that of money-making. "When families, schools, the media, and the general environment move in one direction, children follow," she said. As if to prove her point, Dina's attitudes are reflective to a great degree in the profiteering mentality which seems to dominate the world today. To begin with, she and Rami priced the sweets they sold at 25 piastres. But in a drive to make more profit and expand their business, they pushed the price up to 50 piastres each sweet. Dina uses her mother's mobile phone to run her business. She has promised her mother she won't make any calls, but will rather wait until family members ring her, to then greet them with the room delivery menu. Dina still doesn't feel wholly satisfied, though. She complains her school cafeteria sells products for more than the market price. On the other hand, she sees nothing wrong in selling sweets to her family at a mark-up. "I only make 50 piastres profit per sale, whereas the school cafeteria makes a whole pound," she told the Weekly. "I need to make profit to stay in business." So strong is her desire to make a profit that, even if her parents or elder brother Shadi doesn't buy any sweets from her on a given day, she'll make sure not to eat any of the sweets, and instead puts them in the fridge for the next day. "I don't want to lose my business," she says. Meanwhile, Dina's plan is to expand her business to include new products such as chocolates, chips and toffees. And when family members fail to pay, she stops delivering to them. "When I grow up I want to have a big pastry shop, and to make it so popular that I end up selling to everyone in Egypt," Dina said excitedly. Dina's not the only one getting into business, though she may be the most adept. Some of Dina's schoolmates bring things to sell at school too, such as necklaces which they sell for LE2. "I don't like it when they do that. School is a place for learning, not business. Besides, these kids have no idea how to buy or sell," Dina said. Selling to family members can prove tricky, however. Shadi, who is now at preparatory school, owes Dina nearly LE9 in unpaid bills. When asked, Shadi flatly denies this. "I paid her for everything I bought." He adds that if Dina ever decides to open up her own sweet shop, he will support her fully. Dina's mother, decorator Amal George, believes the games children play reflect the world they live in. As home deliveries became more and more of a staple feature of life in Egypt, children have grown keener to emulate it. "In our time, we used to play with plastic toys, Monopoly and other board games, or even spend entire afternoons cutting up newspapers to make paper planes which we'd throw out from the window, only to then get punished for polluting the street. Now children have gone a step further, and started buying and selling while playing. I believe that children's minds are becoming more business-like. They are always thinking of ways to make money," George told the Weekly. Indeed, even schools are encouraging the development of a business mentality. "Teachers at Shadi's school told the students to divide themselves into groups, and for each group to start a school-based business project. The kids' profits are donated to the Children's Cancer Hospital, true, but the principle is the same. Once children start thinking ways to make money, their attitudes change, and become more practical," said George. As for Dina, the truth is she has been business-oriented since she was six. "She would make us tea or sandwiches, and then ask for her fees," George recalls. "I don't think I am going to let her continue selling food at home. But I am interested in teaching her how to do well in the business world, and to help her develop a winning attitude," she added, explaining that she believes it is important for parents to identify their children's skills and to help them along. "I like to give my children the chance to try things out," George said, adding that only if she finds a game immoral does she stop her kids from playing it.
