People who have fled and want to start a business here can learn this this week in Alkmaar. The Pangea Foundation links ambitious refugees with students from Inholland University of Applied Sciences. And to experienced experts such as the Yemeni Khaled Alyami, also known as Noori. He first sold his ‘sustainable dates’ from his bicycle and eventually achieved success in the Netherlands by working together.
“With the dates I want to give something back to the Netherlands and Yemen.” Khaled Alyami (29), called Noori by friends, is enthusiastic. He talks with great love about his company Noori Dates. Alyami started with just a two-wheeler with a trailer full of dates, which he sold on the street.
He inherited his passion for the fruit from home. “My family has a date company. They have a small plantation in Saudi Arabia.” Alyami originally comes from Yemen, where he was already an entrepreneur. He came to the Netherlands four years ago. He fled Yemen.
Explore the market
“This is only partly due to war and corruption. Because I also wanted to increase my knowledge. Information that I learned here is not known in Yemen.” That is why the entrepreneur left for Egypt to study, but here too he still missed something. “Later I found out that the Netherlands was one of the best places for entrepreneurs. That’s why I stayed here.”
Once here, he decided to start a date company, just like his family. “My family already had access to dates and contacts. I then started exploring the market in the Netherlands.” This is now almost two years ago. And exploring that turned out to be more difficult than expected.
Setbacks
The first year of Alyami’s business, he started working without any help. “It was a year of energy for nothing.” Because when he came to the Netherlands, he quickly learned that being an entrepreneur works very differently here.
“I went out with the fruits to sell them, but everyone asked about everything except the dates.” He was asked about the contents, weight, composition of the packaging and so on. “In Yemen people said ‘oh you sells dates? how expensive are they?’ and that was it,” says the entrepreneur.
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Noori when he first started his business
Noori when he first started his business
Noori when he first started his business
Noori when he first started his business
The beginning of Noori’s company
What works in Yemen does not work here. “I didn’t know how to do it and I did everything myself. It was really a one-man show. That worked very well in my country and culture, but here it really doesn’t work.” When he came to the Netherlands, he learned how people here do business. “Now I know how to do it.” Although he still has a sole proprietorship, he spends he does some of the work. He now knows that you cannot do everything alone.
Sustainability
He proudly talks about Noori Dates. The company is recognized as sustainable, Alyami said. He thinks this is important because a lot is thrown away in the date industry at the end of the season. That’s why his company doesn’t throw anything away. “We use every part of the date. Our packaging is made by Yemeni and Egyptian women. They make handmade baskets from the leaves. When the dates are dry or expired, we make sugar and syrup from them and from the stones we make coffee.”
“I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot from them. An example of this is when I did everything myself. Marcel Keyser from the Pangea Foundation then came to see me in the storage and said that it was not working. He asked where my partial certificates were. and what I did here. He told me to stop because otherwise I would die in a year. Thanks to his help I learned where to go, what certificates I needed and what requirements I had to meet in the Netherlands.”
Inspiring newcomers
After trial and error and the necessary help, he is now successful. He is even a coach at Pangea for other entrepreneurs and helps guide refugees with entrepreneurial ambitions. “I hope to inspire the new group of entrepreneurs with my story.”
The refugees helped by Pangea are all status holders. They are formally able to register with the company register. Moreover, during Pangea’s course, lessons are taught in Dutch.
What does Pangea do?
Pangea Incubator is an Alkmaar foundation that supports refugees with entrepreneurial ambitions in starting their own business. They do this through it Start your business –program. In one year, the entrepreneurs learn, among other things, how to make a business plan, build a network of Dutch companies and make contact with suppliers and customers. The goal is for them to be completely independent by the end.
When asked what Alyami has learned about doing business in the Netherlands, he laughs. “If I had to mention it all, it would take us a month.”
He says that there are many things he did not have to worry about in Yemen. But what he especially learned is how to build a concept, adapt yourself and how to build a network.
Help from students
The enterprising refugees who are now being helped by Pangea learned all kinds of things from students last week. During this week, Pangea Incubator joined forces for the first time with fourth-year students from the Industrial Engineering and Management course at InHolland University of Applied Sciences. “I wish I would have had that help when I first started,” Alyami says.
Why collaborate with students? David Schultz from InHolland University of Applied Sciences answers this question. “It offers many valuable insights. Not only for the entrepreneurs, but also for the students. With this project they learn to use their knowledge in practice.”
Own business a requirement
As a requirement for graduation, students must also start their own company. “They therefore encounter the same problems as the refugees they are now helping. This allows them to ask critical questions and use their own experiences and insights.”
Marcel Keyser, co-founder of Pangea Incubator, believes that the collaboration is very valuable. “The students have already added a lot of value to the business plans. I have already received a lot of positive feedback from the entrepreneurs. They are very happy with it.”
Alyami is a successful example of participants of the Start your business program. He now dreams of further scaling up and expanding his knowledge. “I hope to one day return to Yemen with my new knowledge to bring about change.”
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