Support for Small Enterprises Leading to Large Improvements

For micro and small size enterprises, having a good reputation is based on the quality of the products and the popularity of the enterprises among the local community. As Hussam Saada, a Syrian migrant fled the war and established his furniture production business in Reyhanlı, explains in his case, “Design and the quality constitute a large portion of the furniture production, and it needs to be up-to date in order to meet the customers’ expectations”.   

Hussam Saada has been living in Turkey for the last four years and he runs a furniture store in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district. Before arriving in Turkey in 2016 due to the worsened conflict in Syria, he had been running a business with his brothers in Syria where they design, produce and deliver wooden appliances to households and hotels. Then, he arrived in Reyhanlı and started to work at a similar workshop as a craftsman.  

During his experience as a craftsman, he improved his Turkish and made some friends then he decided to establish his own business. Although it was a challenging process to find a business from scratch in a new country, his products have quickly gained popularity due to their advanced quality. Therefore, he could hire two more workers and enlarged his business till 2020. 

However, the pandemic influenced his business along with many other enterprises in the region, and he faced challenges like income loss and slowing down of the business. Then he decided to apply for the Quick Impact Grants offered by IOM Turkey, which aims to support the micro and small size enterprise owners from migrant and host communities by providing the technical materials or cash grants they need to sustain and develop their business further. Hussam’s application was approved, he participated in the business development Trainings involving classes on budgeting, marketing and legal processes. Then he created his business plan successfully which required him to get a special machinery to produce digitally modelled furniture and decorative accessories. Following the approval of his business plan, IOM Turkey provided him with the necessary machinery.  

Hussam says before receiving this machinery, he was asking other shop owners to design his products and pay them. Now, he indicates “We will enlarge our team in line with the arrival of this new machinery. In this way, we will be able to deliver our products for the customers as a more independent enterprise”