supported entrepreneurs

Laodecia: Islamic embroidery

 

Is this the first company that you have started, and what drove you towards it?

I'm widow, mother of five. Have no supporter help me in securing the main requirements of livelihood, that is why I compelled to find further source of income beside my husband's salary.

Two years ago, I was very keen for the  idea of reviving the natural silk handicraft In Lattakia, but for financial reasons I stopped. The natural silk are rare and expensive. I was unable to undertake the load of taking loan, thus I stopped this business and started looking at a different business idea.
My sister suggested me to join the Village Business Incubator training.

 What was the biggest challenge in starting an innovative business in your country and how did you overcome that?

I can list a lot of challenges, starting with the high costs of production per piece compared with the similar products available in the market, adding, the woman miss the opportunity of getting discounts, because she can't buy the raw materials directly from the wholesaler due to the lack of cash. Derived by her ambitious, the rural women starts her business, careless the  importance of conducting market study and  feasibility study, therefore, after a while she reach the blind alley.

I could have done nothing towards these challenges without the support of the Village Business Incubator. 

How have you benefited from business incubation?

The Village Business Incubator stated with me from the scratch. Firstly, I had got the basic managerial skills required for starting business through attending the managerial training delivered by the VBI staff.  This training was followed by market study, business plan, and technical training provided by external expert in embroidery. The VBI support didn’t cease at the training,  it was continuous support even in promoting and marketing the production.

How did you finance your start-up operations?

The raw materials needed for the first production was provided by the Village Business Incubator. I produced some pieces and sold it in the Christmas Bazaar organized by the VBI. I reinvested this money to buy raw materials and produce new pieces. In this way, I started my business without taking loan or borrowing money.

 What is your major products and how it is  unique in your business sector? What is your competition?

Mothers and grandmas in the rural area of Lattakia skilled in embroidery. The generations transferred this craft from age to another, But with different materials. My mother used the natural silk. She made bed covers, pillowcase, Al Quran holder, and babies cloth.

Today, I  follow this designs, but the natural silk are costly and hardly accessible, so I use high quality cotton to produce bags, purse, wall decorations, table runners, bed covers, and Quran holders, I decorate these pieces with drawing from the ancient history of Syria.

How did you first launch your product?

As abovementioned, my first production was marketed in the Christmas Bazaar organized by the VBI, then again I participated through the VBI in an exhibition organized by the Woman Committee in the occasion of Mothers Day.

Now, I sell my products inside group of women in the outlets facilitated by the VBI, such as  Salah A-Din castle, The Mountain  Breeze Resort and oriental shops in the old Damascus. Moreover, I get orders from people in the village and some customers get in contact with them after the fairs I participated  in Lattakia and Damascus.

accordingly, one can say my customers are the people in the village, Syrian I meet in the exhibitions and marketing events organized by the VBI, in addition to the tourists visiting Salah A-Din castle.

 How do you measure the success of the business?

A journey of thousands miles begins with single step.  I still in the beginning.

My vision in the future is to establish workshop and offer the poor young women in my village with job opportunities. This development needs money. I think, I'm able to achieve this target two years later.