I'm more than happy, now I've put the needle here in Germany
After leaving Syria as a refugee, Ibrahim opened a small tailoring shop with his brother. With help from The Human Safety Net and Perspektive Neustart with fitt gGmbH as supporter, they took over a company with two laundries and 16 pick-up points.
Before the war, I had a textile factory together with my brother in Syria.
Five years ago, we had to leave our country and fled to Germany. In the state of Saarland, we‘ve opened a small tailoring shop shortly after our arrival. Then we got a great opportunity: laundry owner Klaus W. wanted to give up his business and was looking for a successor.
The technical skills and the will to succeed were no problem for us. I wanted to pay my taxes myself, self-earned, and I don't want any help from the state of Germany, that was my goal in early 2019. After all, my brother and I have only been in Saarland for 5 years.
Laundry owner Klaus wanted to give us a chance and made our participation in the THSN refugee start-up program a condition for his company takeover.
Taking over a business is a very complex thing, but Perspektive Neustart with fitt gGmbH as supporter and The Human Safety Net helped us with the bureaucracy. So did the previous owner.
The takeover became reality a year later: in October 2019 my brother and I took over the company which has two laundries and 16 pick-up points.
Previous owner Klaus continues to support me beyond his takeover. Especially in administration and accounting. Because in Germany that's pretty complicated.
So I'm more than happy, now I've put the needle here in Germany.