Rula started her working life in computers with the Government. In 2003 she completed a catering qualification. She became a saleswoman for Caribou and got to know all the hotels and restaurants in Amman.
When her husband left her alone with her two young children she realised that she was going to have to do more to support herself and her family. Being naturally entrepreneurial she worked out what she was good at and what she enjoyed and decided to open a catering business.
With no capital, she borrowed some money from Micro Fund for Women, a leading micro-finance company in Jordan. She trained herself further in catering, rented an old kitchen and bought some basic cooking equipment. She built the business up to 12 employees (all women who had been left by their husbands like her) and was supplying 5 hotels in Amman.
Unfortunately she was forced out of her premises by a rent hike and now she runs a busy coffee shop above Hamleys store in Jordan, but her long-term goal is to open a factory employing 1000 women.
A natural leader, she may just achieve her ambition. She wants a mentor to help her to develop her business skills and to help her plan a big tasting event in an Amman hotel this year.
