DeBirs Yachts has accomplished so much in its short history. Overseas Living made the trip to Egypt to hear how the dream has been realised

The DeBirs story is not a story that unfolded in Livorno, Viareggio or any of the other traditional Italian yacht building cities. If you look back far enough, the story began in a place that is completely unfamiliar to Italy. It is the city in which the Italians, then the Romans, first experienced the attraction of 'diva celebrities'. It is the city of Alexandria, the birthplace of Cleopatra and the wife of Mark Anthony.

It was on these shores, once a sister city of Rome, that this particular story unfolded. For different reasons, there are only two significant yachting markets in the world today. One is the United States, and the second is Italy. Both of these markets have been penetrated by DeBirs Yachts. This summer we will see the delivery of M/Y Lady Carola, the first 85 footer with the award winning design from H2 of London to be delivered to Italy. Lady Carola will be cruising the Italian coast, home port out of Roma, and supported by Fiamma Yacht, which is the newly appointed DeBirs Yachts exclusive representative in Italy, headed by Mr. Maurizio Barnaba.

This is considered a significant step for DeBirs Yachts in the most important market in the world today. The founders of DeBirs Yachts sought to create a world-class ship yard targeting the highest segment of the yachting world. The challenge was to create this company in an environment that had little to no experience in yacht development, building, marketing and selling. Some nine years into the experience of creating DeBirs Yachts, Chairman Tarek M. Ragheb and his partner Marwa Singer can now be proud of owning one of the region's most recognised high quality shipyards today, with a very prestigious client list. DeBirs Yachts started its life nine years ago and continued to rapidly grow until today.

In fact, the land all around the existing factory has been purchased for an expansion plan that will triple the size of production. A construction and manning plan has been set to be able to meet that objective. To date, the 85 RPH (Raised Pilot House model) has proved to be extremely popular, with sales in the United States, Italy and the Red Sea area. That is not to say that other models will not be successful. The first 100ft Sports Yacht will be delivered this summer and is promising to be a huge success. Once this yacht hits the market, the 110 RPH, of which the first has already been sold, will not be far behind. Nine short years into its operation, DeBirs Yachts has faced many challenges that have proved to be show-stoppers. However, with determination, vision, life experience and team work, DeBirs is still growing.

It is a shining example of a successful start-up company in the region, in one of the most competitive markets in the world.