Business: Fashion designer
Region: Tunis
Having learnt the basics of sewing in a textile factory when she was 20, Souad was then trained by enda inter-arabe to produce small articles from traditional fabrics to offer as end-of-year gifts. Two years later, she left her position at enda and decided to become self-employed and begin her adventure as a micro-entrepreneur.

With just one sewing machine and an initial micro-credit of 200 TND, in 2000, she bought some scraps of traditional fabrics in order to produce her own articles. Her workshop was housed at enda's boutique on the ground floor of enda-ia's then headquarters which meant that many of her customers included foreign visitors who appreciated traditional handicrafts. This gave her the opportunity to receive a lot of advice on the quality and design of her products. Equipped with their feedback, she was able to substantially improve the quality of her work which led to an increasing demand for her products and higher sales during trade fairs. With the confidence from her initial successes and with the knowledge that she could apply for more loans, she decided to push herself even further - to open her own workshop.

In 2007, she rented larger premises and recruited two young apprentices. With a loan of 3,000 TND, she developed a brand new collection of bags and other useful products such as wallets, purses, and briefcases which she exhibited at the 1st trade fair for female micro-entrepreneurs in Strasbourg, France. "Taking part in this first exhibition was very encouraging for me because with my limitations, if I want to export my creations, I must learn a lot about international marketing and trends and better understand the standards for quality and design."

Souad has now obtained her 14th loan for a total of 14,000 TND in loans. The Microfinance Network of Arab Countries 'Sanabel' ordered 700 bags from Souad that were distributed to the participants of their 5th Conference held in Tunis in May 2008. "I have started reaping the fruits of my hard and serious work and of the sacrifices I made over the years when I had to work up to 16 hours every day. Today, I am proud to say that the enda-ia slogan, 'thanks to micro-credit, I can fly with my own wings,' has become my reality. I believe in it more than ever. My next step is to start a training and design workshop in my neighbourhood to create more jobs for young people."