Small jobs, big dreams..
Iraqi women overcome obstacles with private projects
Alaa in her small workshop located in the Karrada commercial district in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
A.F.B
picture
When the Iraqi Alaa Adel launched, a few months ago, her own fashion design house, the challenges were not easy, in addition to the obstacles facing young people in general in the labor market, and women in particular who, with a lot of effort, started dreaming big with small businesses and projects, you find many Iraqi women opening their own businesses. Your uphill adventure.
Alaa Adel, 33, has encountered many obstacles since she graduated from the University of Baghdad in textile and fashion design.
And between her desire to work in her specialty as a fashion designer, and the lack of opportunities in this field, Adel, who also teaches at the College of Arts at the University of Baghdad, decided that the only way to do so was to open her own project.Highlight
When the Al-Mahatta Foundation for Entrepreneurship in Baghdad launched the “Ra’idat” program, funded by the French Embassy, with the aim of training women on how to establish their own projects, Alaa saw an opportunity to gain the experience she lacked, and joined the project.
And she recounts from her small workshop, located in the Karrada commercial district in the capital, surrounded by balls of thread, sewing machines, and scattered fabrics, that “these stages that I went through gave me confidence to start my project.”
And the dream turned into reality in the summer of 2022, after Alaa borrowed a subsidized sum from a bank, so she launched the “Iraq Couture” fashion house, which aspires to become a co-working space for other Iraqi fashion designers.
Alaa succeeded in defying social considerations, material difficulties, and lack of experience, at a time when millions of Iraqi women do not dare to take such a step, and their presence in the labor market in general is still weak.
Limited space
Shamous Ghanem, the owner of a healthy food store, and the launcher of the “Iraqi Women in Business” initiative, believes that there is “discrimination against women” in the field of work, as men “dominate in many sectors, while women are on the margins and are not highlighted.” .
Likewise, there is a "limited space" for women in which they can grow and develop, as Shamous, 34, adds.
Shumoos, the mother of one son, is trying to fill this gap in women's expertise, and provides them with a career guidance service, especially via the Internet, and for free.
She says that most of those who communicate with her are “mothers who have been away from the labor market for a long time, and do not know how to return.
And they ask themselves if society will accept them, after a long period of absence from work.
Shumoos established her own business in October 2021, and going to the market and searching for suppliers was the biggest challenge for her.
She recounts, "When I went to look for suppliers for the first time, I saw that the issue was difficult. There were a large number of men around me, and I am a woman walking in the street. It was worrying to me."
Shumoos aspires to grow her own health food store, Holifec, which she now runs from home.
"My dream, after five years, is to have my own healthy restaurant, and for it to be a place that supports women who want to work in this sector," she says.
• The dream turned into reality in 2022 with the fashion house "Iraq Couture".
• Shamous Ghanem, owner of the "Iraqi Women in Business" initiative, runs a healthy food store.
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