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Success Story of

Saad Moati

Saad Moati was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He is a high school graduate and 25 years old. Participating in the “Şirketim” project in February, he is supported during the formalization process of his confectioner business that he established Avcılar, Istanbul.

Saad was born in Saudi Arabia, but later, he and his family return back to Syria, where is the family’s hometown. In Syria, until his leave, the family lived in Homs. However, following the Syrian civil war, Saad was no longer saw his future in the country, and he could not abide by the adverse impact of the war on his life; therefore, he obliged to emigrate to Turkey. When the war in his region escalated, he moved to Idlib where is close to the Turkish border, and it is possible to pass over. During his compulsory travel, he was alone, and his family stayed in Syria. Shortly after his transition, he immediately decided to move to Istanbul, where there are more job and livelihood opportunities, and he settled in Avcılar, Istanbul.

In Syria, he did not possess a profession since he was studying. However, he was helping his uncle in his shop, which specialized in selling clothes and perfumes; in this way, he has learned about running a business. Prior to his latest entrepreneurial initiative, he did not work in Turkey. Instead, he immediately established his own business, considering it would be more beneficial for him.

Although it has been an avid initiative for him, he did not have adequate knowledge of the legal field for establishing and running a business in Turkey. In the beginning, he structured the business physically; however, the obligatory formalization process was missing, and this situation was causing him a perpetual fear of being shut down and detaining from additional investment. Prior to the “Şirketim” project, he did not know anything about the GIZ or United Work and projects of these organizations. When he heard about the project from his uncle-in-law, he has learned about the United Work. Later, he called the project number, and field officers of the project informed him about the project and GIZ. Followingly, he immediately decided the participate in, considering the missings of his business. The main contributions of the project to his business have been completing legal formalizations, including tax plate, work permit, license, pos machine, and fire extinguisher, and learning governmental regulations. Hence, now he feels more comfortable and does not feel pressure from legal authorities. Therefore, he is grateful to the project partners who funded and implemented it.

In the future, he does not think about going back to Syria permanently. He states that he would only go back to Syria to visit his family. He thinks that he has a better chance of having a good life in Turkey. He has a good relationship with the Turkish people, and he does not encounter any problems. Besides, he would like to improve his business by investing more. However, taxes generate a heavy burden on him, and he faces challenges following the pandemic. Nevertheless, for him improving his business is crucial, and he would prefer working more to sustain his business; instead of giving up.