“I used to think that my art wasn’t valuable. But when I understood that I could make money from it, I felt newly hopeful,” shares Sara* who joined the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC’s) business skills training course and now runs an online business teaching handicraft.
Sara’s hidden golden opportunity
In the 2000s, Sara had to leave school in Afghanistan and flee to Iran without any documentation that would allow her to reside legally in the country. She ultimately overcame these challenges to marry and have five children. Now, she helps her husband make ends meet.
Still, four out of Sara’s five children have had to drop out of school. Over the past few years, she has been desperately searching for job opportunities – but finding a job in Tehran, Iran’s capital, was and remains very challenging. Sara mulled over various ideas, including opening her own herbal shop, but starting a business as a refugee is administratively complex and she also doesn’t have enough money to put down a deposit. Sara started to feel desperate, but then she saw a message in one of her community’s chat groups asking for handicraft work samples from people interested in joining a business skills training course.
As things stand, Iran hosts the largest refugee population in the world. For over four decades, it has been giving Afghan refugees access to fundamental services, such as education and primary healthcare, among other forms of assistance, with minimal support from the international community.
In the 2000s, Sara had to leave school in Afghanistan and flee to Iran without any documentation that would allow her to reside legally in the country. She ultimately overcame these challenges to marry and have five children. Now, she helps her husband make ends meet.
Still, four out of Sara’s five children have had to drop out of school. Over the past few years, she has been desperately searching for job opportunities – but finding a job in Tehran, Iran’s capital, was and remains very challenging. Sara mulled over various ideas, including opening her own herbal shop, but starting a business as a refugee is administratively complex and she also doesn’t have enough money to put down a deposit. Sara started to feel desperate, but then she saw a message in one of her community’s chat groups asking for handicraft work samples from people interested in joining a business skills training course.
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Sara had learnt embroidery skills when she was young. So, she went ahead and shared photos of some of her pieces in the chat group – and that was that! “When I was first selected for the business skills course, I didn’t think that my art could make me money,” shares Sara.
Thanks to the generous support of the European Union, NRC has been able to offer Afghan refugees a range of training courses, including ones tailored to women in Iran, who face major financial barriers and urgently need support. In these courses, they are introduced to a variety of marketing and business skills. In Sara’s case, this has empowered her to utilise the art she already makes at home.
During the training sessions, Sara learnt what and what not to do. She soon came up with the idea of launching an online business to teach others. The course leader encouraged her to test out this idea and see how it worked.
Seeing results
Eight months have now passed since she started testing. Sara currently has 70 online students learning the art of embroidering numbers, and more students enrol every month. “I’ve gained a lot of confidence since I first started. Now that I’ve pushed myself out of my comfort zone, new ideas keep coming to mind,” Sara adds.
Her marketing strategies are particularly excellent. As seen on her business account, she engages with and supports the members of her audience individually.
Sharing her hopes for the future
“I really want to offer more artistic training in the future. I’m also thinking about selling craft equipment so that I can offer a full package for my customers,” says Sara, optimistically.
Her motivation to keep expanding her business centres on giving her children access to education: she hopes to be able to enrol them in school again soon.
NRC in Iran
Since 2012, NRC has been assisting displaced Afghans as well as host communities in Iran. It works to protect and improve access to basic humanitarian services across 11 provinces: Alborz, Tehran, Yazd, South Khorasan, Hormozgan, Kerman, Razavi Khorasan, Qom, Markazi, Semnan, and Sistan and Baluchestan.
Since mid-2021, NRC has significantly scaled up its work in Iran to reflect recent developments in Afghanistan, while maintaining all existing programmes.
*Names have been changed to respect the individuals’ wish for anonymity.
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