U.S. helps small businesses in Yemen thrive
Yemen’s Red Sea coast has sustained families for generations. In the areas of Yemen not under Houthi threat, the United States has supported the people of Yemen with job training, equipment and introductions to international markets to ensure Yemenis can improve their livelihoods and support their families.
Bringing Yemen's coffee to the world
USAID experts provide formal technical training and practical field school sessions to more than 800 coffee farmers, producers and traders, including 152 women. (USAID Yemen)
Although the coffee industry acts as an important contributor to rural livelihoods, export potential has been limited in recent years due to lack of marketing experience with the international specialty coffee market. (USAID Yemen)
Renowned for its unique flavors, Yemeni coffee has a long history as the country’s biggest cash crop. USAID gives practical agricultural advice to coffee farmers. (USAID Yemen)
USAID experts provide training sessions to coffee producers on many things, including best production practices, postharvest handling and coffee nursery production to ensure that healthy seedlings replace old trees. (USAID Yemen)
The United States has helped Yemenis expand their coffee businesses.
Coffee has long been Yemen’s biggest cash crop. However, lack of marketing experience has prevented the country from realizing its potential in the international specialty coffee market.
The USAID Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP) provided technical assistance to help coffee growers address pests and disease’ It also facilitated relationships with coffee traders in countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, South Korea, the UK, Germany and Jordan.
Yemeni coffee producers partnering with USAID negotiated sales agreements with coffee traders and distributors valued at $3.8 million over the last two years.
Diving for precious onycha
Most of these Yemeni women divers are heads of their households and sole income earners after divorce from or death of a spouse. (USAID Yemen)
USAID provided some coastal Yemeni women with diving equipment and training to enhance their small business of selling onycha. (USAID Yemen)
In Yemen, coastal women dive to collect onycha, the hard plates of mollusks that are used in Middle Eastern incense mixtures. (USAID Yemen)
In Yemen, coastal women create economic opportunities for themselves as freedivers and fisherwomen. (USAID Yemen)
For women from rural coastal villages who earn their living as freedivers and fisherwomen, a lack of equipment and training often meant they were diving off boats in flip-flops and selling what they collected for far below market price.
The divers collect the hard plates of mollusks called onycha, a sought-after ingredient for incense used in the Middle East. Onycha is valued as high as $340 per .45 kilogram (per pound) in online markets, but the women were only able to sell their goods for $20 per .45 kilogram (per pound).
In May 2023, 30 of these women from two women’s associations participated in USAID’s two-week advanced freediving and market-linkages training.
In addition to providing the women with diving equipment such as suits, fins and masks, USAID’s Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program taught the women breathing techniques to optimize dive times.
Introducing these women to broader markets for onycha allowed them to double their income.
“I am gathering double the amount as I was before,” said Amlak, a diver and fisherwoman, “and thanks to the marketing and negotiation skills I learned, I am getting better prices for my products and have doubled my income.”
Keeping Yemeni boats on the water
USAID's Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program fosters business growth and addresses the issue of limited boat engine repair shops in Yemen's coastal areas. (USAID Yemen)
Budding mechanics in a U.S. Agency for International Development training program learned the skills to dismantle, repair and rebuild engines. USAID works to stimulate economic growth and increase incomes in Yemen’s coastal communities. (USAID Yemen)
A local fisheries association announced the 30-day boat maintenance and repair training offered by the USAID Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program, which has positively affected Yemen's fishing communities. (USAID Yemen)
Yemen’s fisherfolk learn repair skills to help support the needs of the fishing community in remote coastal areas. (USAID Yemen)
For years, Yemen’s main coastal cities and governorates — Abyan, Aden, Al Mahrah, Hadramawt, Lahij and Shabwah — suffered from a lack of maintenance shops for the boat owners who depend on their crafts for a livelihood. Long waits for repairs often meant serious loss of income.
In 2022, to resolve this situation and remove the bottleneck, USAID trained 24 participants in basic and advanced engine repair methods.
The same program offered lessons on how to start a business and build a strong client base through effective customer outreach. Ten of the attendees have since opened their own shops, and nine are employed as assistants in others.