Our community is our reason to exist! One of our main objectives is to foster connections among our members. We will feature a member of the SIBA community regularly on our blog and newsletter. We open the series with an interview with Mazen Obeido, who delighted us with his sweets, sense of humor and collaborative spirit. read more..

  • Your name?
    • Mazen Salem Obeido
  • Business Name?
    • Afaq for Icecream, Halwyatte Obeido
  • How long have you been in business?
    • Since 1980
  • When did you move to Jordan?
    • 2012
  • What’s the most difficult thing you’ve had to deal with?
    • The most difficult was to start from zero in Jordan. We were pioneers in our sector in Syria, we had experience and knew our market well. When we moved to Jordan, we started in a market we didn’t know. We had to do a lot of research to understand customers, learn our costs and the legal framework we are operating in. A key criteria for us was to employ Syrian migrants and refugees. This proved difficult because we couldn’t exclusively employ Syrians, so we cross trained Jordanians and Syrians.  Today, we are considered a model for a company that is creating local jobs and reducing the burden refugees have on a host community.
  • What’s special about the way you do business?
    • I learned the trade from my father. When I took over the business, I was keen on innovating to better serve our customers. I created a patent for making knafeh on charcoal and registered the patent in Syria.
  • What excites you about your business?
    • My ultimate belief that nothing is impossible! I look forward to solving problems and reaching heights. I always think of what is most challenging and accomplish it.  In our meeting in Marseille, we played a challenge game that many thought was impossible to solve. I was among the firm believers that “where there’s a will there’s a way” and indeed we did find a way! That was fun and a reminder of my motto.
  • What are you dreams?
    • I would like to expand globally beyond SYria and Jordan.
    • I heard that some of our employees have been granted immigration to the USA and are setting up businesses based on our model. I love that we have an impact on their lives and possibly the US economy!
  • How do you support the community?
    • I enjoy social and community work most. We deliver training and provide certification for women to bake sweets at home. Our work was recognized by the international donor community interested in women empowerment; that led us to start a production kitchen employing women. We supervised the project from A to Z. Here’s what the partners have to say about our work.
  • Give us a tip about customer service?
    • I believe in giving customers direct access to management. I’m the only business man who has his private number printed on company cards. Any customer can reach me directly.  This is aside from my personal follow up at our stores to inspect our operations and ensure quality control.
  • A syrian mathal that you live by?
    • “إحكي بوشو ولا تغشو”..  Have courage to speak your heart in person and not behind someone’s back.
  • How can partners find you?
  • Anything else you’d like to add?
    • I wish SIBA great success and I’ll be an active participants. I’m proactively reaching out to the local community in Jordan to rally support among Syrians and Jordanians alike.