Female entrepreneur Saadet Seray, who grows mushrooms in the tent greenhouse she set up in front of her house in the Siverek district of Sanliurfa, cannot keep up with the high demand and orders. Saadet Seray, a mother of 4 children, started growing mushrooms by establishing a small greenhouse about 5 years ago to contribute to her family's livelihood, with the support of the district agriculture authority. She expanded her business to 3 large tent greenhouses and now sells mushrooms to the surrounding cities and towns.
Stating that she had previously started growing mushrooms in a small place to support her husband, Saadet Seray said that she had been growing her business for a year with the advice and support of Zuhal Lacin Kucakli, responsible for Siverek Women's Support Center. My husband was working as a shoemaker, and when his business was not going well, I started growing mushrooms to support our household. In time I expanded my business, which I started five years ago, and moved to this new place. My husband left his job, which was not going well, and started working here. We work together to provide for our children and our home. We are very pleased with the results. There are not many people growing this product in Siverek and I don't have a problem finding a market for my products. We send our mushrooms both to Siverek and to the surrounding provinces and districts, the demand is very good. If we are given a little more opportunity and support, I want to grow this business even further."
Stating that his wife started this business to support him, Eyup Seray said, "My wife told me that she wanted to do this business to support me and that she could grow mushrooms. We had no knowledge or experience about mushroom cultivation before. I believed and trusted my wife and we started doing this job together. At first, our house had a small basement and we started producing there. We have been producing at a limited capacity for a few years and gained knowledge about mushrooms and discovered the market."
Stating that they applied to the district agriculture authority to expand their business and received tent support from the district agriculture, Seray said, "Thanks to our application, the district agriculture supported 2 tents with a 40% grant and now we have been continuing our production in our 3 tent greenhouses for a year. Sometimes we cannot keep up with the demand as there are too many orders. We first started this business as a side job, but now we continue it as our main job. I appreciate and congratulate my wife."
Eyup Seray stated that they produced 250 kilos per month when they first started the business, and now they have reached a production capacity of 2 tons per month. Seray said, "We want to increase this capacity even further and create an employment environment for people. Unfortunately, we cannot produce in the summer because our resources are limited and our places are not suitable for the summer months. If we can, we want to produce in 12 months of the year.
Sanliurfa Women's Support Unit Supervisor Zuhal Lacin Kucakli said, "I am proud of all the women who come to our women's support center. We are with them financially and morally in every respect, we continue to support all women with an entrepreneurial spirit. The best example is our woman grower, Saadet Seray. She has been receiving training from our organization for about 3 years. She came to us saying that she had been producing mushrooms and wanted to grow her business. We supported her in every way and as a result, she was able to receive municipal support and grow her business".
Source: Son Dakika