Mohamad Ahmed Jasim was highly committed for the programme in terms of attendance, discussion and supporting other participants. His Business Plan and presentation received the top score during the last evaluation. Mohamad developed a start-up for fish farming. His start-up company name is “Al Waha Company for Fish Farming” which is to breed fish in floating cages in the river and sell fresh fish to the market. His project is an innovative start-up in that for the first time in Iraq fresh fish will be prepared in pieces and properly packaged and sold in different weights per mail to retailers and in direct sales to customers suing online sale channels. 

Mohamad’s feedback on the programme: 

“Before attending the entrepreneurial program, I was working on fish farming like any other breeder, and the information I had came from the experiences of others, in addition to inquiries from friends and breeders in the region. I had a previous failed experience, as I lost approximately $1,900 due to an epidemic that killed fish in the areas adjacent to the Tigris River. 

When I was selected to attend the program, I attended the online and onsite workshops throughout the duration of the training, I became aware of things that I had not considered, and I felt confident that I could manage my project if I repeated it.

Indeed, I developed a work plan and successful management of the project to attain the project’s main objectives in terms of scope of work, schedule, and budget, so that I can properly manage it. The risks were monitored properly, and I developed a plan to avoid them and an emergency plan if they occurred.  

Thank God, I prepared my project in March according to the BP and benefited from the in-kind support in July, where I achieved sales of $2,700 from 1,000 kilograms of fish. 

My plan for next February or March, God willing, is to increase the number of cages to 7 cages. With successful management, I expect my profits to increase by 200% if I can save an additional amount. 

I cannot express my gratitude to the program management for the efforts made to convey information, adopt different methods for conducting workshops, and provide specialists and experts to provide and enrich us with an excellent amount of information for managing small projects and technical matters related to all aspects of projects. I hope to benefit from another program, even if it takes a different approach in terms of preparing trainers or advanced level training. Thank you very much.“