A beautiful new opportunity arises from the lockdown

Wuala Abu Sarah, 36 years old and the mother of four children, lives in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa. A professional aesthetician with an entrepreneurial spirit, she struck out on her own a few years ago, and opened her own treatment clinic. MATI supported her endeavor with a business entrepreneurship course, classes in Hebrew to help her attract a city-wide audience, and training in advertising and managing an active Facebook page.

Then COVID-19 struck, and with it came social distancing and lockdowns. Wuala was forced to shutter her clinic; profits shrunk by over 70 percent. Not giving in to her fears, Wuala turned to her trusted advisors for help and advice, and we suggested a change of direction: converting part of the now empty clinic into a beauty health store where Wuala could sell the creams she used in her facials as a beautifully-packaged beauty line. The store could abide by social-distancing regulation in a way the clinic could not.

In addition to the mentoring and training, Wuala received a MATI grant for the initial marketing launch, as well as assistance in building a website. Last June, as the pandemic continued to rage, Wuala’s store opened for business. Trade began to rebound and profits slowly returned to pre-pandemic levels.