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Keyr
Grocery and Spices
Salt
Lake City, Utah
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Abdi
Farah
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Helping
Utah's Immigrants Move From One Home to Another
Abdi
Farah knows the myriad of challenges that new immigrants face
when arriving in Utah. To help soften the transition and provide
some comforts from home, in the spring of 2003, he and other
family members opened Keyr Grocery and Spices to
cater to the dietary needs of the growing East African community.
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“The
UMLF helped us realize our goal of business
development within the African community.”
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Abdi Farah |
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Keyr Grocery and Spices offers
items such as rise, pasta, anjara flour, beverages
and Asian and African fruits and vegetables. A
line of clothing for the African Community is
also featured as well as furniture and house decorating
items from China. The store is strategically located
at 1735 South Redwood Road, across the street
from an apartment complex that houses thousands
of people from Sudan and Somalia. The close proximity
provides easy access, especially for the elderly
population that rarely leave the house due to
lack of transportation. |
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Abdi
sees the store as just the first step of his much broader
goal of helping to address the need for economic development
within this important group of people. His plans include
offering affordable rental spaces to skilled business
and trades’ people from the community. All of this will
assist the ethnic population to adapt and adjust to
a new culture and language while facilitating business
ownership and self-sufficiency. |
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| A
Utah microenterprise loan in August 2003 enabled Keyr
Grocery and Spices to purchase inventory and
make facility improvements. One year later, an additional
employee was hired, a van was purchased for company use
and several refugees started their own small businesses.
A second microenterprise loan has allowed the company
to purchase additional equipment to serve the growing
customer base. Today, Keyr Grocery and Spices
is a very popular gathering place for refugees
from all around the world. |
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 You
can reach Keyr Grocery and Spices at
(801) 886-8166. Better yet, stop by and
visit Abdi to learn how a microenterprise loan helped
him help his community! |
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Copyright 2003, Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund. All rights reserved.
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