Hello, I'm Nozomi Ohashi from MUUT, an olive tableware brand that aims to provide jobs to refugees in the Middle East.
As this is the first MUUT blog, I would like to talk about why I started this business in the first place . Why the Middle East? refugees? An olive tree? We will answer this question through our entrepreneurial story!
When I was in high school I wanted to be rich
This story begins long before I started my own business, back in high school. I went to a free high school with almost no school rules, so I did whatever I wanted. She dyed her hair a color close to blonde, attended a dance school, and boasted that her dream for the future was to become ``rich.'' However, for some reason I felt like school was boring.
At that time, my mother brought me a pamphlet about studying abroad. I've always had a strong desire to experience something different from other people, so I wanted to go to a country where I didn't understand a word of the language, and I thought it was cool, so I decided to go to France! I decided to study abroad in France for a year.
I decided to study abroad lightly, but because my language skills were not good enough for even everyday conversation, I had a really hard time communicating with my host family and taking classes at school. What I began to see while living in France was a far cry from the fashionable and glittering image I had of France at the beginning.
Many immigrants live in France, and the areas where many people with immigrant roots lived had broken windows and were clearly unsafe areas. In class, I actually learned about religious issues in French society and economic disparities among people with immigrant roots.
“If there is such disparity even in France, which I thought was a developed country, what is the situation in the world?”
At the same time, I thought about how blessed I was to have lived, as I had never struggled with money or education in my life.
I want to know more about the world. If there's anything I can do, I'd like to do it. It was an experience that made me think so.
The day I talked to a refugee
When I was studying abroad, I made friends who were immigrants from the Arab region, so I always wanted to go to the Middle East. When I was in my third year of university, I decided to travel to Jordan in the Middle East. The reason is that it was the safest place in the Middle East.
In 2015, Jordan was in the midst of turmoil, as many refugees were flowing in from neighboring Syria, which was undergoing a conflict. We actually visited refugee camps and refugee homes, and listened to stories about what happened in Syria and life in Jordan.
The words that came out of the mouths of the refugees I met at that time still haunt me.
"My house was reduced to rubble after being bombed. I have no place in my home country anymore."
"My family was killed right in front of me, so I ran away because I feared for my life."
I was speechless because it was a story I had never heard before. There were no jobs available in Jordan, where he fled, and he managed to survive with the help of the United Nations and NGOs.
Is it okay for such an unreasonable thing to happen when the only difference is that they were born in different places?
At that time, I decided to come back to this area and do the best I can.
The days when I couldn't decide to start a business
I had no idea of starting a business, so I started working at a company that was on the forefront of contributing to society. By looking at the people who were aiming to start their own businesses, I learned that starting a business was an option. However, I always thought that I didn't have that kind of ability. I have no skills or experience, so there's no way I can do it.
That feeling changed during the coronavirus pandemic. Like many people, I spent a lot of time at home and had time to reflect on my life. What do I really want to do? Is it okay to just ignore the feelings I had in Jordan?
"For now, let's go to Jordan."
If I don't make a move now, I'll probably never do it. With that in mind, I recklessly decided to emigrate during the coronavirus pandemic, quit my job and traveled to Jordan alone.
What is required is "work"
On the day I left for Jordan, I felt the greatest anxiety I'd ever had at Narita Airport (coupled with the fact that the airport was pitch black due to the coronavirus pandemic).
0 “Where on earth should I start in Jordan?”
It had been seven years since I first went to Japan, so I started interviewing refugees to find out if their situation had changed. As a result, the situation remained largely unchanged. Although I was able to make ends meet with the support of aid agencies and relatives, I did not have the luxury of thinking about my future.
What was particularly lacking was work. In Jordan, where the unemployment rate is 20%, there are few jobs available to refugees. Even if they were, they were exploited simply because they were refugees, and worked in harsh conditions with lower wages and overtime than locals.
A job that pays a decent monthly salary, has days off, and allows you to go home on time. There was no such thing as common sense. As someone who comes from Japan, an economic powerhouse, what I can do is create a decent job with a good working environment. Feeling this way, I decided to set my goal to ``create clean jobs where refugees can feel positive.''