A Syrian family have overcome war, floods and public rejection on a top-rated British television show to build an award-winning cheese-making business after fleeing unrest in Damascus.
Razan Alsous and her husband Raghid Sandouk lost virtually everything including a thriving laboratory supplies business when they packed their suitcases and left Syria with their three young children in 2012.
Their flight was prompted by a car bombing outside Mr Sandouk’s office in Damascus after an apparent assassination attempt of a neighbour.
The bomb was placed close to where Mr Sandouk usually parked his car. He had just returned from buying milk and had switched on the kettle when the explosion rocked his building, his wife said.
The family – including one child aged 10 months – travelled to the UK via Lebanon and Turkey in search of a safe place to bring up their children and use Mr Sandouk’s industry contacts to rebuild their lives.
Mr Sandouk, an electronic engineer who employed 20 people in Syria importing laboratory equipment for universities and food manufacturing businesses, had suffered significant losses after his imported stock was stolen from storage units during turmoil in the country.
The thefts and losses from Syria’s plunging currency meant that the couple were left with few assets as they set up home in the northern English town of Huddersfield, Yorkshire.
While Mr Sandouk tried to rebuild his business, his wife, 36, found redemption on a shopping trip in their new home when she struggled to find halloumi cheese that she ate every morning while living with her family in a village just outside of Damascus.
Ms Alsous, who had studied microbiology in Syria, turned her hand to developing her own version and experimenting with the plentiful supplies of cows’ milk from the countryside farms of her new home.
“We have the oil in the Middle East. Here in Yorkshire it’s the milk,” she said. “We are living in a place that’s the most amazing source of milk, so I thought: ‘why not?’
“I started to search for recipes, I had never made cheese in the whole of my life before,” she said. “I did my experiments at home with my husband being the taster.”
The fruits of her labours were rewarded in 2014 with approval from food regulators. She started production with the help of a £2,500 grant.
With little money to invest, a fish tank, ham glazing machine and ice cream maker were all modified by Mr Sandouk, 55, to make the cheese that is now sold at markets, small outlets and by one large retailer.
“In our strategy we dream as millionaires, then we break our dream into reality and steps that we take one by one,” said Ms Alsous.
Their attempts to upgrade their equipment suffered a blow when they were rejected by a panel of entrepreneurs on a British television show, Dragons’ Den.
The couple were seeking £100,000 for a ten per cent share in their business, valuing it at £1 million, but were told they had overvalued their company.
The entrepreneurs also believed they would struggle to sell their products that could not be branded as halloumi under trademark rules to protect the industry in Cyprus, the largest producer of the cheese in the 27-nation European Union.
Despite the rejection, the business has continued to grow and have bought new kit to expand their sales of their “squeaky cheese” and other products to reach £250,000 last year, said Ms Alsous.
The couple’s company, Yorkshire Dama Cheese, reflects their life in their homeland with the blue packaging symbolising the waters of the Mediterranean. The logo of a Phoenician vessel reflects the region’s trading heritage.
But this year, production has been hit by ferocious weather that flooded their factory for several weeks and the Covid-19 pandemic which has kept their seven-strong staff off work.
Despite the problems, Ms Alsous sees no imminent return to Syria, with her children aged seven, eight and 11 seeing the UK as their home. Members of her family have joined them in Yorkshire including one brother who works with them in their factory.
Even if she will not return permanently, her ambition is to export her cheese to the Middle East. “Why not? We are importing the oil,” she said. “Each place needs to do what they are good at. You don’t need to have gold everywhere - the treasure here is the milk.”
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
The Equaliser 2
Director Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders
Three stars
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
WTL%20SCHEDULE
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)
Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)
Saturday
Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Sunday
Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)
Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)
Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m; Winner: AF Al Baher, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m; Winner: Talento Puma, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,950m; Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.30pm: Jebel Ali Stakes Listed (TB) Dh500,000 1,950m; Winner: Mark Of Approval, Patrick Cosgrave, Mahmood Hussain.
4pm: Conditions (TB) Dh125,000 1,400m; Winner: Dead-heat Raakez, Jim Crowley, Nicholas Bachalard/Attribution, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.30pm: Jebel Ali Sprint (TB) Dh500,000 1,000m; Winner: AlKaraama, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,200m; Winner: Wafy, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m; Winner: Cachao, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Dunki
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
Final round
25 under - Antoine Rozner (FRA)
23 - Francesco Laporta (ITA), Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG)
21 - Grant Forrest (SCO)
20 - Ross Fisher (ENG)
19 - Steven Brown (ENG), Joakim Lagergren (SWE), Niklas Lemke (SWE), Marc Warren (SCO), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)
