Medinat Al-Zuhur (City of Flowers) - Haneen Hmaid
As the organic food industry continues to grow throughout the Palestinian territories Medinat Al-Zuhur (City of Flowers) founded Haneen Hmaid of Ramallah works to meet the dietary needs of local consumers. The current lack of naturally produced organic foods available in Palestinian markets has led entrepreneurs such as Haneen to develop locally produced alternatives currently in demand throughout Palestinian markets. Haneen works with her family to market and produce preservative free, natural organic and traditional Palestinian foods.
According to Haneen, consumers are conscious of the harmful effects of foods loaded with preservatives and would prefer healthier organically produced alternatives to chemically processed food. Medinat Al-Zuhur (City of Flowers) works to meet this demand in the Palestinian market and produces a variety of organic goods, Haneen explains, “We produce preservative free pickled peppers, nuts, jams and marmalades including lemon and carrot.” Furthermore, customized packaging is an important marketing strategy utilized by Medinat Al-Zuhur as they continuously work to appeal to the multiple needs of customers.” Haneen elaborates, “Medinat Al-Zuhur has the capacity to customize packaging based on the needs of consumers, whether it’s a change in language for export purposes or festive decorative packaging for special events or holidays.”
A main issue which Medinat Al-Zuhur works to address is packaging concerns especially leakages. Therefore, Haneen maintains that funding received will go towards packaging materials and equipment that will ensure that customers from all over the world receive the goods intact. In addition, Haneen seeks to implement a production line equipped with machinery that will increase production and maintain quality control to meet the needs of local as well as global markets.
“Our organic goods have great export potential, there are so many Palestinians living abroad that are interested in our products, we just have to develop packaging that can ship well,” explains Haneen.
Haneen is passionate about bringing the best of traditional and organically produced Palestinian foods to consumers. As a result, Medinat Al-Zuhur’s team always participates in trade fairs, events and even workshops to increase awareness of the brand as well as to continue to learn and adapt to the developing market.
Finally, Haneen describes how important it is to support female entrepreneurs, “I believe that women entrepreneurs are role models for other women and young girls.” She continues, “It is important to bring attention to entrepreneurial women, because they are a source of inspiration and encourage other women to think outside the box and develop creative ideas that can have a great impact, not only on the market but also our daily lives!”