While thousands of Iraqi youth are suffering from continuing unemployment, chemical engineer Rokia Mohammed has used her academic background to create a small soap factory in the southern city of Samawah.
Rokaya, 25, began her work in a small room in her home before expanding to a factory where, with the help of five other staff, she used the soap used in natural remedies for various skin problems, which she named "Rukaya".
Rokaya graduated in 2016, but did not wait for what many described as government promises that could not be realized for the thousands of unemployed young people in Iraq, and began her project two years later.
She said the plant produces many kinds of natural soap, such as cactus soap, turmeric and flaxseed that treat skin problems such as eczema, acne and skin colors, and expressed the hope that the plant will grow and produce other products.
"People are starting to tell us that the results they have obtained from using our products are much better than the other imported products we buy from stores, so we see that our products are now competing with the imported items that are being used for treatment," she said.
The Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals granted the necessary permits and licenses and offered a new space for its establishment. But she believes the government should do more for self-reliant young people to support those projects by providing space or marketing products.
The plant currently produces 200 pieces of soap a day, and has hired five of its university colleagues in the factory, which cost about 35 million Iraqi dinars (29,350 dollars).
The engineering graduate earns nearly 2 million Iraqi dinars ($ 1,677) a month and pays about 250,000 Iraqi dinars ($ 210) per employee.
And are mostly dependent on ingredients such as natural oils and herbs that are usually obtained from distributors in Baghdad or neighboring countries.
Unemployment jumped to 9.9 percent in the aftermath of the war against Islamic state regulation in 2017 and 2018, according to a World Bank report released this month.
Unemployment among women jumped from 11.3 percent before the crisis to 20.7 percent in 2017, the report said.
Basra rocked demonstrations in mid-2018, where government offices - including the main provincial council building - were looted and burned by protesters angry at corruption and unemployment. Protests quickly spread to other southern provinces.
Demonstrators say they took to the streets because of corruption and poor governance, which led to the collapse of infrastructure and lack of electricity or potable water.