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The success stories of Productive Bahraini Families at the Autumn Fair are inspiring young local entrepreneurs to follow their dreams and showcase their passion-made products on a global stage.
A wide range of such products, including chocolate, dresses, palm frond baskets, bukhoor and pickles, are being highlighted at the dedicated Productive Families wing of the Autumn fair.
With more than 650 exhibitors from 14 countries taking part in the 33rd edition of the popular event, the successful productive families stood out with their welcoming smiles, affordable prices and friendly demeanour.
Among them is owner of Berry 74 Ali Al Bari, who is offering a unique blend of chocolate and traditional Bahraini halwa, along with chocolate mixed with spicy ‘Chips Oman’ as well as traditional Bahraini crackers ‘mattay’.
“I love chocolate and so I wanted to create something unique that brings together the traditional Bahraini flavours and modern luxurious chocolate,” said the 33-year-old.
“This wasn’t a mixture that came by chance, we spent a long time finding the appropriately measured blend of sweet halwa and Belgium chocolate, and then we moved on to other unusual flavours.
“We spent a lot of time testing our product with many people and getting their feedback and making changes until we perfected our mixture.”
He said the process involves melting chocolate at home in special pallets and adding the unique ingredients into the mix before placing the containers into a fridge to cool down.
Ali urged people, especially the youth, to take chances and risks to achieve their dreams and praised the Autumn Fair as an opportunity to support Bahraini businesses.
His sentiments were shared by Bahraini Aneesa Al A’ali, owner of Crispy Bahrain, which has been specialising in traditional Bahraini delicacies such as luqaimat (a Ramadan sweet) and kabab flour since 2003.
“I started out with the regular flour that can be used to make kabab and other traditional Bahraini delicacies, but I have recently developed ‘frozen luqaimat’ that can be placed in an air-fryer for five minutes,” she said.
“I experimented for months at home to create the perfect blend that results in luqaimat that is crispy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside.
“I’m proud that my products have been successful and I will always strive to improve further.”
Aneesa was awarded the HRH Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Award for Bahraini Productive Families in 2020, which further encouraged her to develop her products. She hopes to have her own store in the future as well as a factory for the popular products.
Another winner of the Princess Sabeeka award in 2010 is Frond and Fabric owner Ebtisam Al Amer. She has been passionate about handicrafts for more than 35 years. She dabbled in pottery, glass-painting, tailoring and other crafts before discovering her talent for weaving palm fronds.
Ebtisam infuses colour into traditional palm-frond woven baskets and uses fabrics in the finished-product.
“This is a traditional craft that we have inherited from our forefathers, but I modernised it by adding colour and fabrics to ensure it is passed on to future generations in a new form,” she said.
Ebtisam also dreams of setting up her own factory and urges everyone to pursue their hobbies as ‘that is where they can truly find themselves’.
Another Bahraini who stood apart with her delicious products was Mariam Aseeri.
The Golden Taste chairwoman started out at home and took on the experience of her mother and knowledge of her father to build a range of pickles and sauces that are now popular across the country today.
“My mother started out making pickled vegetables more than 25 years ago and we built on that until we were able to launch a factory in Bahrain specialised in pickles, sauces and spices, which I helped design as an engineer,” said Mariam.
“Bahraini Productive Families are very creative and all they need is a little support,” she added.
Other success stories include Oud Al Thuraya owner Omani Thuraya Humood and Althamarat Perfume owner Ibtisam Nasser, who also urged people to pursue their dreams regardless of the obstacles in their path.
The popular exhibition continues until Friday and is open from 10am to 10pm at Exhibition World Bahrain in Sakhir.
