Hala Al-Hashidi

Yemen-In the Middle East, the center of World War III, conflicts and wars affect women the most. In addition to social pressure, they face many rights violations such as displacement, arrest and rape and they have to pay the price of economic crisis and poverty.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi al-Mashat-led Supreme Political Council. The country is one of the countries that paid a heavy price for Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, 2023. Women, especially women entrepreneurs, in Yemen’s besieged city of Taiz struggle to survive and develop their country despite the war and poverty.

Iman Al-Ariqi, 39, is one of them. She chose to resist by developing new projects.

She began to work at home

Iman Al-Ariqi began to develop her projects at home by making fast food such as sandwiches to get her economic independence. Then, she began to sell clothes, perfumes, and incense. After being successful, she decided to put more projects into effect outside of her home to expand her business and increase her income. However, she had to stop her projects due to the siege of Taiz and ongoing war in the country.

‘I am determined to achieve success despite the challenges’

She did not give up and realized her project called “Mazjan” in the city of Taiz in 2018. “Despite everything, I managed to realize my project. However, I faced many difficulties such as the high prices of raw materials,” she told NuJINHA. Iman Al-Ariqi also suffered from the deterioration of the foreign exchange rate of the Yemeni rial, the high costs of transportation, Yemeni electricity crisis and rent costs.

“I attended many courses held by international food companies and received certificates. Now, I organize courses. However, I faced many challenges as a women, wife, mother and entrepreneur. Sometimes, I have to travel to be successful. I make double efforts to build a balance. I always work hard to fulfill my responsibilities for my family and work. I am determined to achieve success despite all the challenges. My family always supports me.”

‘We should not give up’

Iman Al-Ariqi has a new project on Indian dishes. “I have gained a lot of experiences and they help me to overcome the disappointments. We do not face only power outages or having difficulties in obtaining raw materials but also the ongoing siege and war. Despite everything, women take many initiatives and achieve success. As women, we should not give up despite everything.”