supported entrepreneurs

Fekrieh - shoes shop

 

The name of business: "Al Rabieh"  for selling shoes

Address: Syria- Lattakia- Zanboura   

Entrepreneur's Name: Fekrieh Hassan                                                         

Business sector:  Service (selling shoes)             

Business format: Sole Trade

Year of establishment: 2009

The date of the interview: 7/ 9/ 2009

 

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

Four years ago I used to work  with my husband in a small shop that provided  villagers with their main daily needs of detergents, stationary, canned food, sugar and tea. During these four years, I acquired some of the entrepreneurial skills.

The increase of the fuel's cost was the key for limiting the movement between my village and the city, thus people started  getting their needs directly from the village.

Shoes selling is one of the most requested services in my village,  that is why I decided to enlarge the existing shop and  add a corner for shoes.

How did you finance your start-up operations and how long will it take to become self-sustainable?

cash was strongly needed to enlarge the existing shop and renovate it, and I managed to secure it  through a loan from the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria "FIRDOS". Before the end of  the grace period which lasted for six months, I finished the renovation of the place and secured the goods from the wholesaler. Once this period finished I started pay the installments.

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

Since my village is 45 KM out of the city, villagers are suffer from the lack of services, specially  transportation in the winter.

Shopping became a real burden for them, therefore, establishing my business "shoes shop", who is the only one in the village and the surrounding area,  solved one of the villagers problems.

people can buy different kinds and shapes of shoes for women, men, young and kids, similar to what they find in the city, with a  lower cost as they don't have to pay for transportation.

Who are your customers and how are you focusing on expanding your business?

A good number of the people in my village and the surrounding villages buy their shoes from my shop.

Different kinds of shoes which is more demanded by people, for example: the student asking for special kind of boots, but the women and men asking for plastic shoes which resist the water and more convenient for work in the farms.    

I'm planning to expand my business through adding new shoes lines, for example, fashionable shoes that is highly demanded by young ladies.

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

The people in my village suffer securing their household income, the main source of income is  temporary jobs such as working in construction or in farms, thus saving money to start up business is uncommon. That demonstrates the viable role of the business incubation concept in the developing countries. it encourages people to establish their own businesses and offers them the needed support, in addition to financial facilitations.

How have you benefited from business incubation?

The Village Business Incubator (VBI) is working in my area, supported me and my business idea. VBI team encouraged me to attend BMT ( Basic Management Training), and helped me in preparing business plan which I attached to FIRDOS loan application and succeeded in receiving a loan to start up business.

With hindsight, are there any particular lessons or messages that you wish you would have known when you started up your business, and which you would like to share with fellow entrepreneurs?

Now I'm aware of the important role for the entrepreneurial training  provided by the VBI, the bookkeeping enabled me to calculate my profits. I would like to say to the entrepreneurs, don’t miss the managerial training, it is very useful.