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Who is Husam Al Dakak?
I am a 32 years old Syrian who lives and works in Berlin. I hold a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Damascus and a M.A. in Economic Change in the Arab Region (ECAR) from Philipps-Universität Marburg (ed.note: ECAR is the precursor programme of EMEA). After finishing my studies in Marburg, I moved to Berlin and started working there in the development field with the focus on trade promotion from developing countries into the EU. Recently I resigned my job and decided to do a PhD. This plan is still on hold, however, I have started working as an independent consultant in the development field and established Sustainable Trade Bridgers (STB).
How would you describe Sustainable Trade Bridgers in two sentences?
Our mission is to build economic bridges between the developing countries and Europe and to provide entrepreneurial support for exporters from the world to penetrating European markets. As the name says, sustainability is an essential element of STB.
What were you doing before?
I was employed at the German Import Promotion Desk. My task was to provide support to exporters from developing countries who aimed at penetrating the EU markets.
What motivated you to create your own business?
I was very happy in my job, but being self-employed implies more freedom for creativity and realising own plans and dreams. Flexibility and being able to realise other social and cultural projects played a role, too.
Becoming self-employed is a bold step requiring you to take risks. How did you approach this move?
I have secured some financial stability through concrete assignments before taking this step. At the end of the day, it’s a risk and you should minimize it as much as possible, but the risk is there.
[Husam's dress code varies with each mission he participates in]
Could you describe the feeling you had the moment you secured your first customer/contract?
I have to say that I have not, yet, because the business is very young, but it’s almost there. I can imagine that it’s going to feel great, not the financial rewarding, but the fact that you have built something that is really working.
How has your journey been afterwards? What have you learned so far?
I have learned a lot not only being self-employed, even before. But when you work on your own, you are responsible for many things at the same time and that is when your learning curve goes up. Although I am already learning a lot, I often discover new areas where I want to improve to learn even more to better cope with the market.
Have you hit any big obstacles? How did you deal with them?
I would say that this road is full of obstacles, from the moment of founding over running the business ending with the everyday obstacles. The thing here is that you always have to be strong and never give up. Once you decide to give up, you have to give away all the resources you have invested in this project. I have always asked friends with experience, read a lot and have done my research to find answers for unanswered questions. The keyword here is movement: keep on moving!
Where do you see yourself going in the next years?
I am quite ambitious and optimistic. I do not want to build a huge company, but I have a couple of projects in mind that I would love to see standing in the near future. The social engagement is my main motive and I would like to go in that direction (social entrepreneurship).
Is there anyone whom you would like to send a message/ thanks?
Of course, I would love to thank those who have been supporting me all the time and who have believed in the crazy plans and sometimes too many I had. I also would like to tell everyone reading this: being able to read this interview is the first thing you can be thankful for. I believe being thankful is key to be happy and consequently to be productive. Make use of what you have – and we have a lot.
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