Jordan

After meeting at a NEF business development training, the Ahlam and Maisoon, two Jordanian women, decided to merge their kitchen appliance businesses to increase their profit margins.

“I think it is important for women to work because nowadays, with the bad economy, it is not enough for the father of the family to be the only financial provider,” Maisoon said.

Ahlam agrees. “If the father of the family is able to put food on the table and pay for rent with his income alone, it’s really enough,” she said. “But for the other expenses, it is burdensome to rely solely on him.”

She continued, “The financial support that was provided by the Near East Foundation significantly impacted our lives. The business we started enabled us to support the needs of our two families. We then expanded our work by adding other products, such as carpets and blankets, due to the demand of our customers. We started earning a monthly income of about 450 to 500 dinars, and after improving and expanding our business with help from the NEF trainings we were able to increase our profits to more than 2000 dinars. Maisoon and I are always thinking of our future plans to continue to develop and improve our business.”

To promote their business and market their products, Ahlam and Maisoon created a Facebook page named “Everything a Housewife Needs.” It is already widely popular with more than 1,000 likes. They also are working with restaurants outside of Zarqa—primarily in Amman—to showcase their products at female oriented events. In the future, they hope their business will expand to allow their families to live a decent life. Ahlam and Maisoon face challenges as businesswomen in Jordan. “Sometimes, women say to us that working is against our femininity, and I tell them no,” Ahlam said. “Sometimes they tell me I will become a man carrying all those heavy appliances, but I don’t care!” Maisoon chimed in, adding, “We [women] are more capable of doing a lot of things—much more than men. We work, cook, teach the children, and take care of the house. Men just work and then go home feeling tired.”

Now that they are successful businesswomen, Ahlam and Maisoon enjoy benefits beyond earning a living. “If you ask me about myself now, my self-confidence is that of 10...no, 20 men!” Ahlam said. “If many men tried to shake my confidence, they will not be able to. Because of my business, I feel much stronger than before. I don’t get scared to go places and meet new people.”

Over the past year NEF has worked in the Tafilah Governorate of Jordan to promote gender equality and women’s rights by creating a network of youth forums comprised of passionate young men and women who want to evoke change in their community. Ekram Abdullah, only 19-years-old, spends her free time attending workshops and youth forums at the Busira Youth Center for Females to fuel her passion for justice and equality.

Ekram, a recent high school graduate, initially got involved to acquire knowledge on women's rights so she could then disseminate that information—making other women aware of their rights in government and society.

"Many things are not allowed for women because of the careless intentions and limitations people put on women," she said. "Women must work to erase these limitations."

She derives her passion for promoting women's rights and gender equality from her personal experiences, and the support she receives from her mother and seven sisters. Ekram said she sees change occurring slowly in her society. One change she has particularly noted is the decrease in early marriages, which is something she is familiar with from her sisters' experiences.

"The increased participation of women in society has helped women be more accepted in different spheres of society regardless of the old traditions and old ways," Ekram said.

She hopes to continue to learn more about women's rights and gender equality, and would like to one day serve as a trainer in the program. Her participation in NEF’s project to promote gender equality in Tafilah has helped expand her knowledge and encouraged her to confidently be able to advocate for her rights and the rights of women in general.

"Thanks to this project I now know the real rights, how they can be applied and attained by women, and how to encourage women to raise their voices to advocate for their rights," she said.

Within six months enrolling in the project, Ekram has taken the initiative to help forum trainers coordinate skits on topics pertaining to women's rights, such as education, women in society, and early marriage. "Although I feel like society is often against me in trying to spread advocacy for women's rights," she said, "I will continue to raise my voice."

 

Ghosoun, a bright-eyed and demure 35-year-old Jordanian woman living in Zarqa, is now the proud owner of a clothing business. When Ghosoun first launched her business, with the help of a project-grant, she had difficulty marketing her products and attracting clients. Over time she learned to rely on word of mouth as the best form of marketing. Slowly, she built a client base through customer referrals—the majority of whom are her relatives, neighbors, and her sister’s neighbors.

After attending NEF’s business  development trainings Ghosoun has been able to expand her clientele. She also works hard to go out and seek new clients whenever she hears of a nearby female gathering. As a result, Ghosoun now brings in between 80 to 100 JOD per month in profit from her business.

“NEF’s financial support helped me to start my clothing business and has helped me to contribute to the household expenses, especially the expenses of my daughters at university. The training that was provided on developing a business plan taught me to rethink how to calculate the cost of goods, and also helped me to get rid of shyness when dealing with customers and suppliers.”

Ghosoun has built her business to serve her customers complete with a home delivery system, because her clients trust her to be honest with them about the quality of her products and fair price. Her clients like to buy from her, because they can get exactly what they want without having to contend with the hassle of going to the market or dealing with traffic and unfriendly merchants.

In the future, Ghosoun wants to expand the variety of clothing she sells and hopes to buy more dresses made of better quality fabric so that she can sell them at a higher price and increase her profit shares.

Love for her family inspired Mona Shalash, a Jordanian wife and mother, to join NEF’s project so she could learn the skills needed to start her own business. With a disabled husband unable to work, Mona is now the primary breadwinner in her home. Although her son and daughter-in-law do their best to contribute to the family income, they do not make enough money to support themselves and must rely on Mona to help make ends meet.

With the grant money Mona received from NEF, she started a children’s clothing business. She sells primarily to relatives and neighbors, and is currently working to expand her client base through word of mouth. She says her clients are very dedicated to the success of her business and frequently introduce her to new customers. With the $250 profit she makes each month Mona hopes to be able to save enough money to open a children’s clothing shop, which would allow her to spend more time selling her wares and less time traveling from bazaar to bazaar.

The project-grant she received from NEF had a huge impact on Mona’s quality of life. “After I received the grant, I felt like I was strong enough to do anything...If someone plans for something, they can achieve it,” she said. “My husband, son, and his wife support me and my business.It is different when you don’t have enough capital to start something versus when you do. It’s very empowering.”

Nora is a grandmother of outward fragility and internal strength who was inspired to start her own chocolate business by watching chocolatiers on TV. “I was fascinated by how much you can do with chocolate, and I wanted to experiment with it,” she said. Nora lacked the capital needed to start her own business, but after receiving a start-up grant from the Near East Foundation Nora was finally able to launch her chocolate shop.

Nora began selling her chocolates to family, friends, and neighbors. Despite the challenges presented by her age, Nora’s dedication to her business is palpable. In an effort to increase her clientele, she also sells her sweets at the local market. There she displays intricately wrapped packages of home-made chocolate covered nuts and other mouth-watering treats—made with the high quality chocolate she is able to purchase with the project grant. She notes that the quality of the wrapping and the presentation of her products are just as important as the quality of the chocolate.

“After I started the business, I had peace of mind because I was able to express myself and to financially

help my two daughters, who are divorced, and my grandsons,” she says. “I use the profits earned from my chocolate business to help my daughters take care of their children.”

Looking toward the future, Nora wants to expand her business and make chocolates for major celebrations and holidays and sell chocolates at shops and airports. Although she is no longer able to leave the house as frequently as she would like, her will to succeed allows her to overcome physical obstacles. Despite the challenges of running her own enterprise, Nora is thrilled about the opportunities her chocolate business has given her family.

Dayr Al Kahf is divided into 8 towns, which are home to more than 13,000 people. The region hardly has any natural source of income at all, leaving most inhabitants living at a subsistence level, dependent on shepherding. Due to its isolation, there are very few grocery stores, convenient stores, health centers, or other sources of basic commodities.

After meeting with many local organizations, the Near East Foundation decided to support 4 projects to improve the lives of Dayr Al Kahf’s inhabitants—a supermarket, cooking gas distributor, party supply company, and a sewage truck. Following this decision, in April 2010 the Near East Foundation and a local cooperative rented a small space to build the town’s first and only supermarket. This new store is now frequented by nearly all the town’ residents, who no longer need to take a time-consuming bus ride to buy groceries—basic necessities such as chickpeas, rice, oil, laundry detergent, and frozen meat are now readily available. The supermarket’s revenue is enough to cover its running costs, the rental space, and a salary for the employee who serves as cashier and accountant.

A related problem dealt with the lack of cooking gas, making it difficult to prepare meals. In May 2010, NEF helped establish a cooking gas distribution system. Now a colorful gas truck donated by the NEF distributes gas for 6.5 Jordanian dollars (JD)—a service that previously cost more than 20. The gas tanks are supplied by the local gas company and distributed from one single point near the new super market. Although the project is only two months underway it has already sold more than five hundred tanks to families all around Dayr Al Kahf.

The community also desperately needed its own sewer water collection system. Since the 1960s, most houses use underground septic tank systems, but families were reliant on expensive services from companies based more than two hours away to empty the tanks. Now, after two months of discussion and planning, Dayr Al Kahf has its own sewage truck provided by NEF to maintain hygiene and water purity in the area.

Asma and her family are from Homs, Syria. After their home was destroyed in 2013, she, her husband, and their three children fled to Jordan where they now reside. Like the majority of the five million Syrian refugees who seek refuge in neighboring countries, Asma’s family chose not to remain in a refugee camp and moved into a low-income neighborhood in Jordan’s urban sprawl. Although she and her husband found informal work cleaning houses, cars, and cooking for neighbors, they were unable to earn enough to meet the family’s basic needs. 

Today, she and her family are financially stable and Asma is operating a small cooking business. Her prepared meals and catered goods have gained a reputation in her neighborhood and demand for her product has grown, allowing the family to pay down their debts and meet their needs.

Asma was able to get her in-home business started after received business and financial literacy training, ongoing mentoring, and a cash grant from NEF's livelihoods program in Jordan. Through trainings she learned how to develop a business model, market her products, interact with customers, set prices, and enter into new markets. With the project grant, she purchased a refrigerator for food preservation, giving her as she says, the “push” she needed to get started. Asma’s household has seen a 50 percent increase in income from her in-home cooking business. Her customer base continues to grow, and she plans to invest in additional equipment and another refrigerator to keep up with increasing orders.

On how this experience has impacted her, Asma said, “I have a stronger personality now. I want to make sure my product is perfect, unique, and different from the other products in the markets.” She has gained confidence and independence, especially with regard to decision-making on where to spend money, saying, “Now if my kids ask anything from me, I can do it.” The family has now started to save some money for the future and emergency expenses which brings Asma and her husband great peace of mind.  “Why should we be weak", says Asma, "we should be strong and able to face challenges. Why? For us, for our children, for the generations to come. We must persevere."