Mosul, 23 January 2023 – At 26 years, Mudher Nafaa Abdullah was already establishing himself through his processing company. What started as a one-person operation was slowly growing and expanding. Manufacturing olive oil products has always been Mudher’s life’s craft which he has perfected for over 20 years.

He started making the products in 2001 but it wasn’t until 2003 that he established Al Attar Land company in West Mosul. When he started, he did not envision it becoming what it is today – a company that produces and distributes olive oil across the country and in the process provides a source of livelihood for many more. With olives readily available from the Iraqi farmers in neighbouring regions, Mudher had his work cut out for him as he would buy directly from the farmers and process it.

Business was thriving and he envisioned that he would increase production gradually and even open a second branch in East Mosul in the near future.

In the height of 2015, all this quickly changed as ISIL waged war in the region. The war took a toll on the infrastructure and the people of Mosul, with buildings flattened by air strikes. Operation was difficult during this period as he could no longer get olives into Mosul from neighbouring areas.

With a large extended family and an additional 16 families depending on him, he was unable to marshal enough funds to move them to safer grounds. “Leaving Mosul meant that I had to abandon all these families.”

It was after a year that he managed to move to Erbil as the war intensified in Mosul.

During his time away in Erbil, both his businesses would succumb to the war, destroyed by the constant barrage of missile attacks. “Everything got destroyed. The factory, the machines and all the products I had. This was devastating and I felt like the place I worked and developed for 18 years was destroyed.”

After nine months, Mudher came back to Mosul in 2018, determined to rebuild his dream even if it meant starting from scratch, which he did. He picked up a volunteer position in rehabilitating infrastructure including roads and schools destroyed during the war. It is during the course of this work that he learnt of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its work in economic recovery in Iraq particularly targeting small businesses.