Abu Owida, turning her hobby into a business
In the middle of her small room, Seham Abu Owaida sits on the floor covered with various kinds of beads and threads. She uses the needle and string to make a wide range of accessories, antiques and gifts selling them to customers.
Like many girls in the Gaza Strip, Abu Owaida who is in her early thirties, learned making accessories, crochet and traditional embroidery at home either online or through family.
Day after day, she developed her skills and began to master the work so that it was good for sale and at a competitive level. She began to participate in exhibitions with institutions and individuals throughout the Strip and she has a number of customers.
During that time, Abu Owaida only bought raw material for clients’ orders. She wouldn’t buy large amount or all the available colors and she would make one model of her work in one color, but after a while, she began thinking of investing her talent and well-made work and turn it into a profitable bossiness.
“Several months ago while on Facebook, I came across a project ad aimed at training people with disabilities and developing their small businesses with financial grants”, she explains.
Abu Owaida who suffers from a motor disability, can’t move without her wheelchair. She started a two-week training program with the Social Developmental Forum to develop her administrative and financial skills and enable her to use digital marketing professionally, with the help and supervision of a specialized team. She received the training with 100 other persons with disabilities.
She successfully passed the training stages and was selected as one of the 50 participants in the “Step for Future” boot camp, which took place over the course of three consecutive days to write their project ideas and present them before the judging panel. Her business was among the 13 winners.
Abu Owaida named her business, “Seham for handicrafts and bead work”, “My business relies on making artistic figurines using strings and different shapes of colored beads and making bead accessories. I also make tablecloths and other wool and embroidered pieces like dresses, blouses and shawls”, she notes.
She adds, “After getting the Forum’s grant, I was able to buy large amounts of raw materials. I started making my handicrafts in several colors and advertising them on my social media page. I began receiving new clients request and I’m working on delivering them right now”
Abu Owaida notes that she originally viewed her work as a hobby but she now sees it as a business that helps her provide an independent income.
She relies on special books to calculate earnings, loses, expenses and sales trying to overcome the obstacles, mainly the difficult economic situation in Gaza. She also began to collaborate with market stores to showcase her work in an attempt to increase sales.
As for her aspirations, Abu Owaida hopes to expand her business and employee other girls with her, having girls work with beads, embroidery and crochet while she supervise and handles sales.
It is noted that the project “Supporting the efforts of persons with disabilities to contribute to positive social and economic empowerment in the Gaza Strip is implemented by the Social Development Forum with funding from the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI).