Shortly after arriving in Turkey, Syrian entrepreneur Ravan Hudayfa started looking for opportunities to expand her network in the country and build new skills. She started volunteering with local community and youth programs, where she got to know the mothers of refugee children. Ravan quickly learned that many of these women were providing for their families by offering catering services out of their home kitchens. This inspired her to launch her catering business, Tina Zita.
As she was launching her website, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges for food businesses. Because her primary business was online, Rajaa was still able to operate - but not without difficulty. “While my website was doing well, the logistical issues of delivery were incredibly challenging,” she says. “I knew that in order for my website to really bloom, I had to unite my staff under one roof and have the delivery process start from one point on the map instead of multiple locations.”
When LIFE Entrepreneurs graduate from the intensive Food Entrepreneurship Incubator, they have the opportunity to share their business ideas with industry experts and compete for seed funding during a Business Pitch Competition. While competitions are usually held at the LIFE Project’s Food Enterprise Centers in Istanbul and Mersin, safety measures from COVID-19 prevented the usual in-person competitions from taking place.
Instead, the LIFE Project hosted the first-ever Virtual Business Pitch Competition. Members received video production and business pitch training before recording their pitches and sharing them with a panel of expert judges. The panel selected 16 entrepreneurs from the cohorts in Istanbul and Mersin as finalists, and three businesses from each cohort received seed funding to start or scale their venture.
Interested in learning more about the winning businesses or connecting with the entrepreneurs behind them? Contact us at [email protected].
Aya, a Lebanese entrepreneur, plans to expand her food delivery platform that connects customers with home cooks.
Turkish entrepreneurs Nevra and Kenan launched a community-based food sharing platform focused on strengthening social ties while increasing access to healthy food.
After seeing how office workers’ diets of unhealthy comfort foods can lead to negative health effects, Turkish entrepreneurs Selin and Emine decided to create a food truck that offers healthy fast food options to office employees.
Originally from Palmyra, Syria, Ahmad pitched his idea to market date syrup - which his home city is famous for - as an affordable alternative to sugar for people with restricted diets including diabetics and athletes.
Turkish entrepreneur Emel plans to build on her experience in food production by starting a new business focused on fresh, nutritional baby food and family staples.
Syrian entrepreneur Manar will use the seed funding she received to open a shop for her home-based business producing additive-free dairy products.
Ayşegül Erdoğan and Özlem Aydalga (Istanbul): “Anne Eli”
Serpil Demir (Mersin): Kaynar Cafe
Fatime Yaruk (Mersin): “Şam Şifa”
Nour Eddin Zalamtani (Istanbul): “Our World Project”
As the world adapts to social distancing measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, businesses and entrepreneurs have made crucial changes to ensure long-term sustainability. The latest event hosted by the LIFE Project with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), highlighted the challenges and opportunities that small business owners and entrepreneurs experience in times of crisis.
From Consortium lead The Center for International Private Enterprise
Osman Cakiroglu, Project Director of the LIFE Project, joins host Ken Jaques to discuss the new ways the program is helping local entrepreneurs in Turkey impacted by the global pandemic. They also discuss the upcoming CIPE event with the consortium partners (register here) and the exciting launch of the LIFE Project Cookbook that is now available for purchase. All proceeds of the cookbook will go towards the LIFE Project.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit the food sector particularly hard, upending traditional business models and disrupting supply chains. The challenges facing these businesses have far-reaching implications – not only for the enterprises themselves, but also for the people they supply with food during the pandemic-induced lockdown. Fortunately, many of these businesses are responding to these disruptions with creativity and innovation, enabling them to continue delivering food, maintaining supply chains, supporting workers’ livelihoods – and helping to feed society during these unprecedented times.
When the Food Enterprise Centers (FECs) closed in March due to COVID-19 safety measures, the LIFE Project had to reimagine what successful entrepreneurship incubation and building social cohesion should look like in this new environment. Over the last few weeks, the LIFE Project made substantial adjustments to support members virtually and provide timely resources to meet new and ongoing challenges.
With COVID-19 creating unprecedented challenges for the food industry, LIFE entrepreneurs from refugee and host communities alike face a daunting question: how can they pivot their business plans to overcome these challenges and find success in this new environment? With the support of LIFE Project virtual programs, members quickly adapted to these new circumstances.
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