After fleeing war in her home country of Ethiopia at age 15, Tigist arrived in Kenya as a refugee in 2012. The war had claimed her parents’ lives and had separated her from her siblings. Tigist met her husband in Kenya and had two children. Tigist later separated from her husband when he began abusing her. With nowhere to go, Tigist sought refuge at a church in Nairobi, where she was hosted until she met RefugePoint in 2017.
Due to the urgency of her situation, RefugePoint immediately linked Tigist with a family that temporarily hosted her while plans were underway to relocate her to a new house.
RefugePoint also immediately began supporting Tigist and her children with stabilization services, including emergency food provision and counseling. Tigist later enrolled in RefugePoint’s Business Development Skills training, where she learned how to set up a business, draft a business plan, and manage the income from the business. After the training, RefugePoint granted Tigist a business grant of $400, which she used to start a business selling injera (traditional Ethiopian sour fermented pancake-like flatbread, traditionally made of teff flour).
“I bought a big electric pan for making injera with the money I got,” Tigist said, proudly showing off her pan. “Initially, I started with brown injera, which Ethiopians mostly enjoy. But one day, a South Sudanese customer came to buy white injera which I did not have. I saw this as an opportunity and immediately went to buy the ingredients to prepare white injera,” Tigist shared.
Today, Tigist runs a profitable business selling injera, teff flour, Ethiopian coffee, and Ethiopian food. “It has been five years since I started this job,” Tigist said smiling. “RefugePoint has helped me from the beginning; they stood by my side and by my children and trained me. Now I can pay school fees for my children and rent for our house and this shop,” Tigist said.
Tigist hopes to buy a fridge and continue expanding her business to meet her clients’ needs. “I am so happy when a customer comes to my shop,” Tigist said, smiling.