Raho’s Henna Shop: a SETS project story

Education

It is a festive day in Mogadishu as people are in the mood to welcome Eid al-Fitr, “the festival of breaking the Ramadan fast.” This means family members have to celebrate together. For children it is a very treasured festival.  Boys go to the barbershop to have their hair cut, girls line up at the beauty salon to have henna done on their hands and feet and hair styling. For the older girls, they may go for full face makeup.  Beauty salon business is growing fast and that is why Raho Nur Mohamed, a recent graduate from Mohamud Ali Ahmed TVET Center decided to set up her first Henna Design Kiosk at Argentina Market in Karan District.

“After the training, I was doing henna and make up at my house but I did not want to stay home. I wanted to establish myself and start my business. I am very ambitious. I rented this small kiosk, it is not that much but it is better than sitting home,” stated Raho with a calm determined voice.

On February, 2021, Raho, a 25 years old mother of four, completed 6 months training on henna design, makeup, hair dressing and styling among other subjects such chemical safety and beauty salon practices.  She was one of the third cohort trainees from the TVET Center.

Raho pays a monthly rent of $20 for her small 4 meter square kiosk. She does not have enough furniture or other essential equipment. Some of her family members gave her a long, used, wooden bench for clients to sit. She borrowed money from her sister to buy the henna products. Raho has seen some successful beauty salons and henna artists that are busy and open for long hours. These businesses have long lines of customers waiting to be served. They had some good investment on equipment and usually hire experienced henna and makeup artists. However, that is not a discouragement to her. “Even though I am starting, I feel like I have an advantage because of the training. I can grow in this business, have bigger shop and good equipment if I get the support I need,” envisioned Raho. She also planning to see if she can find a business partner from some of the women that were part of the 3rd cohort of training. “I hope that the trainees like me with resourcefulness get some support like startup kits or money,” recommended Raho.

52 females and 39 males, trained on different skills; Beauty Salon, Tailoring, Electricity, General mechanic and construction/building. The vocational training is supported under SETS Project, SETS is EU funded project that is implemented in Somalia by a consortium of ADRA, CISP, ARC, WVI and Relief International. CISP implements the project in both Banadir and Galmudug state.

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