Supporting young Christian entrepreneurs in northern Iraq
GBRIL AND SURA’S STORY
Above: Scene from Zakho, city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Credit: Araz Khalat, via Unsplash.
Nearly nine years have passed since the devastation and destruction caused by the establishment of the ISIS Caliphate in June 2014. The people of northern Iraq suffered particularly badly; many villages and towns of ethnic and religious minorities were destroyed, with countless people killed or displaced.
Today, the after-effects of repeated cycles of political, economic and security crises are still being felt in the region. Unemployment rates are high and livelihoods are precarious. For many families, it is a struggle to make ends meet.
In response, we are funding a project in Zakho (in Iraqi Kurdistan) – through our local partner CAPNI – that is providing small business loans to vulnerable community members, such as women and young people.
Jamie and Kat from Embrace’s programmes team recently travelled to northern Iraq to meet with some of these young entrepreneurs:
Gbril (above) is one of the young people who has benefited from a small business loan. He runs a car accessory shop, and his special oven (pictured) dries out damp car headlights so that they can be sealed and fixed. This saves his customers money and attracts them to his well-stocked shop.
Meanwhile, Sura (above) received a grant to set up a new beauty business in a small village outside Zakho. As the main breadwinner for her young family, the grant helped her buy new make-up and equipment. She is the only woman earning money in the village and her home-based salon is something new there. She has ambitions of growing her business and even employing other women in the future.
