What began as a easy pleasure of constructing cookies for household and buddies quickly blossomed into Brown Sugar, a model that embodies each her love for desserts and her journey in direction of independence.
“I used to like consuming sweets,” Eman Fareed, a mom and retired civil servant, advised UN Information whereas baking in her kitchen.
“At first, I baked biscuits only for my household. They cherished the style, and shortly, my buddies began encouraging me to promote them. That’s after I realised I might flip this into one thing larger.”
A part of a grassroots mannequin
She is among the many beneficiaries of Kaaf Humanitarian, a non-profit group (NGO) launched in Bahrain in 2021 that has change into a grassroots mannequin for reaching the Sustainable Improvement Objectives (SDGs) by empowering people and communities for self-reliance.
Kaaf displayed the fruit of its efforts, together with spices and cookies made by Ms. Fareed and others at an exhibit through the fifth World Entrepreneurship Funding Discussion board (WEIF), held in Manama, Bahrain, in 2024 and facilitated by the UN Industrial Improvement Group (UNIDO), in Bahrain.
As for the discussion board, members endorsed the Manama Declaration, calling on the worldwide group to harness the ability of entrepreneurship and innovation to attain the SDGs, with a powerful emphasis on together with productive households.
What’s a ‘productive household’?
Saud Al Mahmood, a public relations specialist with Kaaf Humanitarian, stated productive households are these “that depend on the abilities of their members to supply for the household and enhance their requirements of residing”.
“Serving to productive households is essential as a result of it’s not nearly serving to people; it’s about serving to the entire household,” he stated, noting that Kaaf supplies households with the coaching and instruments they should enhance their merchandise and compete available in the market.
“Our work addresses many SDGs, together with these associated to water, meals and shelter, in addition to bettering the economic system. We’re at all times inspired to collaborate with the United Nations and different organizations.”
After baking her cookies, Eman Fareed packages them in a beautiful field branded along with her enterprise title.
A ardour for spices
Noora Khalid Musaifer, one other Kaaf beneficiary, stated she was impressed by her mom’s love for cooking and roasting espresso.
After getting married, she started mixing Bahraini spices and, over time, expanded to incorporate totally different spice grades, daqoos pepper and low roasting, all made with high-quality elements and underneath the model title Mallawal.
She processes the spices – washing, drying, roasting and packaging – at residence. Whereas she initially offered them underneath her model from residence, participation in exhibitions and alternatives rising by the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine helped her enterprise flourish.
From funding to branding
A key think about Ms. Fareed and Ms. Musaifer’s profitable journey was the assist of Kaaf Humanitarian, which offered them with monetary backing, packaging supplies and branding help.
Ms. Musaifer is the breadwinner for her household, having been making spices for 20 years and becoming a member of Kaaf a decade in the past.
“Their monetary assist has enabled me to acquire high-quality spices,” she stated, including that a few of the spices she will get from the market or Bahraini firms that import them come from India and are very costly.
Noora Khalid Musaifer acquired trainings to change into a profitable entrepreneur.
Social media as a advertising device
Ms. Fareed stated Kaaf Humanitarian has been a pillar of her success within the baking subject.
“Expertise is essential in at present’s world, and so they helped me adapt.”
She began her enterprise after retiring in 2014, however initially lacked steerage on the best way to develop it.
“Once I joined Kaaf Humanitarian, they educated me in enterprise administration, social expertise and digital advertising,” she stated, underscoring that the NGO gave her each monetary and ethical assist. “They taught me the best way to take skilled pictures of my merchandise and maximise on-line gross sales.”
Ladies’s capability constructing
One afternoon, 15 ladies entrepreneurs gathered for a coaching session at Kaaf Humanitarian Home within the suburbs of Manama, every bringing their merchandise to share with others, showcasing their mastery of expertise.
“They’re housewives. Some used to work, however now they work at home,” stated Budoor Buhijji, a college lecturer who led the session.
“They run small entrepreneurial tasks: meals, sweets, spices, goodies, pens and handicraft merchandise they’ll promote of their communities. And so they hope to develop past their group and go worldwide.”
Challenges and desires for the longer term
As a feminine entrepreneur in a historically male-dominated enterprise surroundings, Ms. Musaifer sees her success as a testomony to the power of Bahraini ladies, with the ability to steadiness work and household obligations.
Kaaf Humanitarian empowers ladies by entrepreneurship coaching and supplies them with alternatives to market and promote their merchandise.
“I dream of opening a store underneath my title, the place I can proceed making handmade spices and conventional meals,” she stated,
For Ms. Fareed, being a businesswoman in Bahrain is already an achievement as enterprise has historically been male dominated.
“In my household, ladies weren’t inspired to work alongside males or handle companies, however over time, my father noticed my power and supported me,” she stated. “Now, I really feel assured and empowered.”
Trying forward, she desires of increasing her enterprise right into a manufacturing unit.
“I need to construct one thing huge, have my very own staff, and depart behind a legacy for my kids. Someday, I’ll inform them the story of how I grew to become a powerful, unbiased lady.”
