For more than 100 years now, Bank Misr has been considered an epitome of Egyptian economic nationalism, and a marker of Egypt’s success in its fight for economic independence. Founded in 1920 by Egyptian entrepreneur Talaat Harb, the bank continues to hold its place in collective imaginaries as the embodiment of the spirit of independence that is often linked to the 1919 uprisings. In contrast to this revering depiction, this paper argues that such success was structurally limited as dependence on cotton exports, lack of industrial diversification and the imperial dominance over the local market persisted. Moreover, this limited success came at a high human cost and generated only limited positive outcomes for subalterns' wellbeing. This was evident in the appalling working conditions within Harb’s factories, the persistent crackdown on the labour movement, widespread child labour and abuse of landless peasants, amongst other things. This is not to deny that the economic nationalism of the early 20th century, including Bank Misr’s projects, carried a degree of defiance to the imperialist structure and contributed to industrial infrastructure of the Egyptian economy as well as witnesses a period of growing productivity. Rather, this paper explores the lifeworlds of this economic nationalism and interrogates its meaning for the subalterns The paper draws primarily on archival materials of different sorts, including campaign advertisements, both national and British newspaper articles, opinion pieces, as well as diaries of officials, laborers and autobiographies of national bourgeoisie and 1919 opposition leaders, all of which help me reconstruct the nationalistic and class imaginaries of the Egyptian bourgeoisie in the early 20th century. It builds on these, utilizing a neo-Gramscian approach and concepts such as consent and historic bloc, to suggest that the economic nationalism model, presented as the solution for the independence and welfare of the Egyptian society, was a political-economic project of the nascent Egyptian bourgeoisie that attempted to seize the historical moment of 1919 and utilize its unfolding moments to further buttress its economic gains through enforcing its economic project.