São Paulo – The Syrian mechanical engineer Talal Altinawi in seeking money to open his restaurant of Arab cuisine in Brazil. A refugee in Brazil since 2013, Altinawi couldn’t find a job. Currently, he takes on demand orders and sells the dishes at typical parties and bazaars. He wants to open a restaurant and turned to crowdfunding, which is a type of collective funding via the internet to raise funds.
“I want to open a restaurant, or a snack bar, but don’t have the money. My friends of Adus (non-governmental organization that supports refugees) suggested the crowdfunding to me. If I can’t get enough money for a restaurant, I will open a store (with typical Arab products). It will offer everything”, he said. Through crowdfunding, people that don’t know Altinawi can enter in a website and place their donation. Transfers beyond R$ 50 (US$ 14.35) will be rewarded when the business is up and running.
Whoever donates R$ 50 (US$ 14.35), for instance, will enjoy a breakfast, lunch or dinner on the house. While an R$ 500 (US$ 143.52) donation guarantee the donor a free party for eight. If someone donate R$ 25,000 (US$ 7,172) for the project, he/she will enjoy a 40% discount for a year, with no limits.
Until Friday (14th), Altinawi had received 42 donations that fetched R$ 5,835.00 (US$ 1,674.91). His goal is to collect R$ 60,000 until September 21st. If the target is not reached, he will use the money collected to open a snack bar. The value set by Altinawi is the amount needed to buy equipment and pay expenses with rent and documents.
“It’s R$ 5,000 (US$ 1,435) for the fridge, R$ 2,500 (US$ 717) for a freezer, a machine for dough, which costs R$ 3,500 (US$ 1,000), among other utensils and materials. Besides, it’s necessary to pay three-month rent in advance, which will cost around R$ 9,000 (US$ 2,583). Here it’s hard to open a business because they require a lot of documents. A person offered to take care of this for me, but for the price of R$ 4,000 (US$ 1,148)”, says Altinawi.
He doesn’t know yet where to open the restaurant, but already has some ideas. “I attended a bazaar in Vila Madalena (West São Paulo) and it was very good, but there is too expensive. It could be close to the green line”, says Altinawi, mentioning the region of the city around this subway line, which links the East to the West regions and serves the Avenida Paulista and its neighboring areas.
Altinawi arrived in Brazil with his wife and two children in December 2013. He left Syria due to the conflict that hit the country in January of that year. He went to Lebanon but heard that Brazil was receiving refugees and changed course. Although not fully adapted yet, the family already welcomed its first “paulistana” (born in São Paulo) member, Iara, born six months ago. Altinawi hopes to move out of his current neighborhood, Brás, and live in another place of São Paulo. “But, first, I want to open the restaurant”, he says.
Service:
Information and donations at the website: http://www.kickante.com.br/campanhas/restaurante-talal-cozinha-siria-0
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
