Is this the first company that you have started, and what drove you towards it?
Yes it is the first, I thought that participating in the income coming into the house is a good idea, especially that I have nothing to do excepting to take the care of my family, which is easy and doesn’t take too much time. Since, I had three years experience in producing the detergents, the team of the Village Business Incubator advised me to produce natural soap after they got sure of its visibility.
How did you finance your start-up operations and how long did it/will it take for the company to become self-sustainable?
The Natural soap production is very interesting work, it doesn’t require much money if I produce a limited quantity; therefore I used my personal saving. Step by step I saved money to buy more raw materials, and increase the production.
What are your major products and services and how are they unique in your business sector? What is your competition?
Natural soap is made without heating using natural oils extracted from laurel, almond, Jasmine, damascene rose, chamomile, lavender, rosemary, mint, and parsley. The soap has the shape of rectangular, and it is packaged in simple and beautiful way.
my competitor is Laura Pell soap in Kassab region in Lattakia, where there is a main company for producing and selling laurel soap and various collection of natural products in which the laurel is the main component.
This company is focusing on packaging and promotion which is one of the most important factors that increase its attitude in the market.
How did you first launch your product/services?
My products were sold to the supermarkets, friends, and to the neighbors. In addition, in the Village Market in Lattakia, my customers are the people who are aware of natural products.
How do you measure the success of the company?
I can measure my success by the quantity of soap sold day after day in addition to the quality which improved by practicing the ideal methods of production. I listen always to the feedback of my customers to improve the quality of the soap produced.
Who are your clients and how many do you have? How are you focusing on expanding your user community?
My soap is not only used for washing hands, it is also used for other purposes, it soften and moisten hands, because of the oil used in making it, it has cosmetic effects like fighting acne, clearing the skin and other ways of usage, this makes my products target a wide rang of customers, people who like using natural products, ladies who use natural products to keep their visage clear, shops and Pharmacia's owners , families and tourists.
I think that the promotion and the product development are the best ways to expand the user community of my soap.
How have you benefited from business incubation? (E.g. infrastructure, knowledge development, networking with other businesses/traders, other)
The Village Business Incubator was huge opportunity for all the rural women in my village and the surrounded villages of the incubator, since I joined the VBI, got the services of feasibility study, business counseling, market research, Business Management training and the technical Training, in addition to I had got the support of the Local Promoter of the VBI in preparing the promotion materials of my business.
The VBI offered me the opportunity of participating in the trade fair organized in Lattakia, Aleppo, and Damascus, and international trade fair in Italy. Moreover, the VBI linked me with foreign customers.
With hindsight, are there any particular lessons or messages that you wish you would have known when you started up your company, and which you would like to share with fellow entrepreneurs?
Through my work, I approved that the women have ability to multi tasks, it's not difficult for the woman to take the care of her family beside to participating in the income generation, that would have high value to my kids. we should remove the wrong concepts of our children and the men of our countries that the mothers are only for houses not for creativity.
Do you feel that you had the necessary advisory and support network when you started your company?
The Village Business Incubator was great support for me, they didn’t miss anything, even the linkages that I have, it is by the help VBI and by the big promotion that they did for me, and the outlets that they offered for me.
What is your message to supporters (financial or otherwise) and what is your message to the users of your product?
Thanks for the VBI and for the "Syria Trust for Development", they are great support for me.
I would like to ask donors who have the ability to finance a study tour for me, it would be great opportunity for me to have new ideas for improving my products.
