Khatib siblings launching their cleaning supplies business
By/ Salem Elrayyes
About two months ago, the siblings, Mohammed and Mai Khatib decided to launch their own business, Al-Wafa for cleaning supplies in Jabalia north of Gaza. They set up a small 5*3 meter space in their home garden and bought the needed tools and raw material.
30 year Mai and her brother Mohammed, 22 are both visually impaired. Mai has a B.A in Arabic Language and Mohammed is studying Sharia and Law. Hoping to secure a steady income and display their skills, they thought of starting their own business.
“We previously enrolled in courses to understand the combinations of cleaning materials and the used raw materials and how to mix them together. We conducted several previous experiments until we adopted the methods we need, so we decided to look for funding for our project because our economic situation does not allow us to rely on ourselves in the launch of the project”, said Mai on their business idea.
While searching for business funding, Mohammed came across the Social Developmental Forum Facebook ad inviting people with disabilities to pitch and develop their small business ideas. He and his sister Mai applied passed the interview and were accepted to join. They took part in the project’s first training phase and took part in administrative and financial skills development and digital marketing along with 100 other trainees. Mohammed added, “We benefited a lot from the training and we gained valuable information and skills in setting up a business.”
He continued saying, “After the initial training, we were chosen among 50 participant to enroll in the second phase in the “Step for Future” boot camp. We worked for three days on professionally writing our ideas and then present to a judging panel. The panel liked our idea and agreed to grant us funding.”
The Khatib siblings later signed the contract with the Forum and started their business. They made their products including dishwashing cleaner, chlorine, floor cleaner, and laundry detergent. They also started marketing them in markets and their social media pages.
The siblings agreed that Mai would be responsible for marketing the products to customers while Mohammed would secure the raw materials and manufacturing the products, which many customers liked, according to them.
Mohammed noted that there are some obstacles facing their business such as the high prices of raw materials in the local markets. This forces them to sell their product the same value of competing products, but he did stress that he tries hard to provide raw materials at the lowest possible prices so that the final prices of their products would be accessible to everyone.
In the first stage, Mai aspires to spreading their products in markets and shops north of Gaza Strip in order to secure their needs, while her brother aspires to become a well-known brand in the Strip and increase their income so that he can complete a master’s and a PhD in his field.
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).