Khabar Khair (Only Good News) – Fatima Rashad

    Yemeni women have proven that they are capable of making the impossible possible, managing projects and competing with men in the labor market for all ranking. Easy steps and businesses are still making their way of which heroines are Yemeni women.

  Through her experience, Hanan Al- Al-Budaji, from Crater, who has a diploma in accounting and a mother of three, was able to highlight the role of strong independent woman, who overcame her difficult circumstances.

    About her beginnings, Hanan says: “I thought of many small businesses, including fragrances making business, so I took a course in making fragrances for a month, and worked in this business for seven years, but the profit of this business was not sufficient to cover all my expenses.”

  When Hanan realized the need to develop her skills, she joined many training courses in various fields, including marketing, computers, and others. However, the project management course was a game changer. That’s when Hanan became capable of experiencing managing her own business (King of Koshari Abu Omar).

    About the beginning of her business, she says: “ My husband lost his job, after Remy Restaurant closed, so we thought of sharing our relevant experience and expertise in making Koshari.”

    And about his wife’s intelligence in managing their small business, Abu Omar says: “My wife always examines and explores the idea before implementing it, and she is good at dealing with customers, which enabled her to be successful in a short period of time, our family is very proud of her because she is an example of a successful wife and working mother, and this family business is a source of income for our family.”

   Every project face difficulty before showing results, the project of selling Koshari experienced many obstacles and difficulties, of which the most important, was the failure of the surgery that Hanan’s husband received in one of his eyes, which caused him to become blind. Commenting on that, Hanan says: “After my husband became blind in one eye, my son did his job, and he was the one who helped me in the work. However, we cannot help but consulting my husband, as the business depends on his experience in cooking.”

    Hanan’s business faced more difficulties, including the Corona pandemic which had a clear impact on the financial losses that the business has suffered, because of closing shops and streets they had to work in part of the house which was not enough for paying the rent or covering the expenses, another difficulty the business has faced was high prices, especially the vendor stand of which rent is paid in hard currency.

    When we asked her about the support she received from the organizations, Hanan responded: “Even though I signed my name in many organizations to get funding for my own business, I was not funded for the fragrances business which I was reconsidering , however I was supported by one of the organizations working to support small businesses for my recent food business, and then I applied for a loan and got it through Jusoor Foundation, and this loan helped me develop my own business.”

     Hanan Al-Budaji hopes to have her own restaurant and hopes that specialists and supporters will pay more attention to small businesses, especially those run by women. to have such successful start-ups, Hanan suggests providing business owners with stalls at nominal prices, so that they can expand and invest in their businesses.