Tameem Fuad Al-Shamiri, 29, was born in Hodeida, and holds a business diploma from the British Institute there.  Al-Shamiri  started working in the trade two years ago when he established a perfume and cosmetics shop in 2010, with ambitions to be a businessman.

He started working in 2004 in a pharmacy belonging to his father, but later decided to establish a perfume shop on Shamsan Street in Hodeida.

The shop's capital was about YR 2,400,000 ($ 14,000). His father supported him in the establishment of the business, providing him with YR 1.5 million. Though he could have established his private project with his own money, he also took advantage of a micro-finance loan provided by Al-Kuraimi Company for Exchange, which provided him with a loan of YR 400,000 ($ 2,000), which he used to purchase commodities to fill his shop.  

As a result of the crisis that hit Yemen in 2011, he could not buy new commodities.

Yet, after obtaining the loan from Al-Kuraimi Company for Exchange, Al-Shamiri is optimistic, particularly as he's been able to pay back the entire loan in three installments.

Al-Shamiri works at his store and looks forward to expanding his perfume and cosmetics business, and to opening another shop for clothing. And after dramatically increasing his capital, he bought handcarts which he uses as street stalls to sell sandwiches.

His business has also created job opportunities for others, since he employs one of his brothers and another worker to run the handcart stalls.

Al-Shamiri, who resides with his father, wife and three children in Hodeida, plans to take further advantage of this micro-finance project by opening up clothes shops to generate more job opportunities and support his family.