From Vision to Reality: Arwa Alloush’s Path to Building a Support Network for Women
From Vision to Reality: Arwa Alloush’s Path to Building a Support Network for Women
November 5, 2024 | Navar Maarri
Arwa Alloush, originally a Syrian dentist who lived in Saudi Arabia, discovered her true passion not in dentistry but in empowering women and building supportive communities. Driven by her dedication to support women in their psychological and educational journeys, Arwa first came to Türkiye in 2013 to visit Syrian refugee camps. Equipped with a diploma in psychological counseling, she offered sessions on achieving psychological balance during times of crisis. This experience left an impact on her and ignited her vision to create a sustainable community initiative.
In 2014, with the support of her husband, Arwa made the decision to relocate permanently to Türkiye. Managing the responsibilities of motherhood while also developing a new venture, Arwa saw herself as a role model for working mothers striving to balance family and professional life. Settling in Istanbul, she aimed to establish a social enterprise that blended charity with financial self-sufficiency to support her vision.
After a year of assessing community needs, Arwa launched the "Aman Center for Women and Children". The center combined a kindergarten for children and a community network for women, particularly focusing on the Syrian and Arab populations in Istanbul. This center was one of the first to provide a professional and official setting for children’s education and support women’s personal and professional development. With the help of a new partner, Arwa expanded the center, eventually opening a facility dedicated to children with special needs. The center’s social mission became a front for its investment arm, supporting its marketing and funding.
However, her journey was not without its challenges. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, operating costs rose sharply, and Arwa faced financial and legal complications with licensing and regulatory requirements for kindergartens. By 2022, due to the increased regulations and the decrease in the Arab community in Istanbul, she made the difficult decision to close the special needs center and later sold the kindergarten. This allowed her to focus on her core mission: creating a supportive social space for women.
Today, Arwa’s center is a dynamic community for women, many of whom are business owners looking to expand their horizons. Through partnerships with various institutions, she has managed to keep the center financially sustainable while providing invaluable resources to its members. "My goal is to create a social environment where women can succeed and find support," Arwa shares. “As a mother of four with a full-time commitment to my community, I understand the unique challenges that working mothers face in balancing their responsibilities while pursuing their own growth.”
Arwa’s partnership with Building Markets has been a game-changer in her journey. Prior to joining Building Markets' network, she had been connecting women with institutions that offered services at a discount, but Building Markets provided her with something unique: all services were offered completely free of charge. Additionally, Building Markets was the only organization that offered her the guidance of a female mentor—an aspect Arwa found particularly valuable, as it provided her with insight from someone who understood her challenges as a woman and business owner.
The sessions she received from Building Markets were transformative. Working closely with her mentors, Arwa developed a strategic plan to increase her center’s income by partnering with institutions to sponsor her events. Together, they set concrete goals and worked on outreach strategies to approach potential sponsoring organizations. This approach paid off financially, as more institutions began to sponsor her center’s services and activities, significantly increasing her revenue. Building Markets also provided her with marketing support, helping her grow her visibility and impact.
Looking ahead, Arwa is focused on expanding her reach, including expanding the online services for women in different countries. Her advice to other women entrepreneurs is simple: “Take it slow but stay consistent. It’s not about speed. In the end, the tortoise wins over the hare.”
Our work in Türkiye is made possible through a generous gift of the United States
