Fida'a Hamarsheh was in her forties when she started her own business. In her hometown of Yabad in the northern Palestinian West Bank, it seemed an unusual move for a beginner entrepreneur, and a female one at that.
But Fida'a had seen an opportunity—a clear gap in the market—and was determined to make the most of it.
“I realised that there were no preschools for families in my area, and parents were suffering by having to send their children far away to another town,” she said. From that first observation, she improvised: wrangling wedding invites in surrounding villages, speaking to young couples attending the parties and persuading parents to help out on open days.
