Beneficiary: Mounir Bardakji
Fund Date: 07/2020
Age: 45 years old
Family members: 3
Aleppo being the largest industrial city in Syria, has witnessed grave economic damage during the long years of war, whereas all Syrian cities and civilians everywhere were feeling insecure in their own homes, Aleppians like Mounir and his brother had another thing to worry about; losing their livelihood source of income.
Mounir Bardakji is a 41-years-old single man, living with his brother George and their sister Dalia who are almost at the same age, in their family house in Seryan area. The brothers shared more than just their residence, but their career also was paired since their early youth years.
When war reached Aleppo city, Mounir’s business was thriving, they had a big workshop in an industrial area called Al-Arkoub. Their workshop was specialized in metal lathing, this kind of work needs physical strength, skills and much experience which Mounir has plenty of as he has been in the industry since 1997.
The 9 years of war were full of difficult challenges; in 2012, the brothers lost their workshop to the armed groups, the majority of the tools and supplies were stolen. They were left with nothing and had to start over, rented a place in Sulaymaniyah and started working with the resources available, just to be able to survive. In 2016, when the armed groups retreated, Mounir and George were finally able to check the workshop and see what machinery were still in there. Luckily, two machines were saved from robbery, that was good enough for them to think of restarting their career for the second time.
Today, Mounir and his brother George want to run a successful business, defying all the economic hardships by establishing the workshop in Al-Arkoub, they have two employees ready to work with them, however, the kind of machinery they have now is not sufficient, the orders they get need bigger and more updated machines to be able to produce the ordered pieces.
They need support to purchase the machines, it will improve their business and make them compete strongly in the local market.