Rahma Sheikh: From a Refugee to a successful Young Entrepreneur in Baidoa, Somalia
My name is Rahma Sheikh Abdi. I was born 1982 in Baidoa district, where I grew up with my family. I was the first born in a family of 5. I never had the opportunity to get higher education because I had the responsibility of looking after my siblings while my parents worked to provide an income for our family.
22 March 2016
I got married to my first boyfriend. I adjusted into my new life of being a wife, embraced the responsibilities and the new challenges. In the year 2007, my husband and I migrated to Kenya as refugees due to insecurity and in search of a better life. We stayed in IFO camp, life in the camp was incomplete and we never properly settled down due to shortage of basic needs.
My husband found a job as a security guard, but was paid less than one hundred dollars a month. We mostly relayed on humanitarian aids. We were blessed with three children, two boys and a girl. In 2013, after 6 years in the camp we decided to go back to our country after receiving information that the security situation was improving and humanitarian and development agencies were committed to help returnee’s resettle.
I was happy to be back home and close to my siblings and parents again. I immediately embarked on looking for a job but it proved hard to find one. However, I was lucky to be chosen as one of the 250 beneficiaries to receive business entrepreneurship skills training and financial management training under “Durable Solutions for refugee returnees in Baidoa” project in 2015. The training utilized ILO’s internationally recognized tools which include Know About Business (KAB), which comprises understanding the role of business in the society and its contribution social responsibility and Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) which focuses on starting and improving small businesses as a strategy for creating more and better employment in developing economies and economies in transition.
After the training, I participated in a business plan competition. Fortunately enough my business plan was chosen among the best and I received a grant of $500. I surveyed my neighborhood to analyze strategic location and appropriate business I would start with the grant I had received. I decided to open a basic commodity shop selling items like bread, sugar, salt, eggs among others. I choose to open the shop in my neighborhood because they were no other shops nearby.
My situation and that of my family has really changed since I started this business. My family has regained a positive outlook on life again and has hope for the future. My business supports me enough to feed, clothe my family and make small savings from it. The business is making profit and I have the desire to expand it one day as many of my customers are happy with the services I provide.
I learnt a lot during the training and I apply the skills gained to my business especially book keeping, and managing my records while also interacting well with the customers regardless of their differences. My ambitions are to become a great business woman and help others who are in need just the way I received help from ILO’s project.
On behalf of myself and the other beneficiaries, I want to thank the ILO and the Government of Japan for changing my life for the better, I really appreciate and thank you very much.
My husband found a job as a security guard, but was paid less than one hundred dollars a month. We mostly relayed on humanitarian aids. We were blessed with three children, two boys and a girl. In 2013, after 6 years in the camp we decided to go back to our country after receiving information that the security situation was improving and humanitarian and development agencies were committed to help returnee’s resettle.
I was happy to be back home and close to my siblings and parents again. I immediately embarked on looking for a job but it proved hard to find one. However, I was lucky to be chosen as one of the 250 beneficiaries to receive business entrepreneurship skills training and financial management training under “Durable Solutions for refugee returnees in Baidoa” project in 2015. The training utilized ILO’s internationally recognized tools which include Know About Business (KAB), which comprises understanding the role of business in the society and its contribution social responsibility and Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) which focuses on starting and improving small businesses as a strategy for creating more and better employment in developing economies and economies in transition.
After the training, I participated in a business plan competition. Fortunately enough my business plan was chosen among the best and I received a grant of $500. I surveyed my neighborhood to analyze strategic location and appropriate business I would start with the grant I had received. I decided to open a basic commodity shop selling items like bread, sugar, salt, eggs among others. I choose to open the shop in my neighborhood because they were no other shops nearby.
My situation and that of my family has really changed since I started this business. My family has regained a positive outlook on life again and has hope for the future. My business supports me enough to feed, clothe my family and make small savings from it. The business is making profit and I have the desire to expand it one day as many of my customers are happy with the services I provide.
I learnt a lot during the training and I apply the skills gained to my business especially book keeping, and managing my records while also interacting well with the customers regardless of their differences. My ambitions are to become a great business woman and help others who are in need just the way I received help from ILO’s project.
On behalf of myself and the other beneficiaries, I want to thank the ILO and the Government of Japan for changing my life for the better, I really appreciate and thank you very much.