Four years into her business, Zahra Moghanaki, 35 from Azna, lost many things with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic: her native Lorestan was among the provinces hit hardest by the pandemic. Many businesses had to scale down or close, especially small-scale enterprises and home-based businesses, which are mostly run by women.

Azna, a city in Lorestan province which lies in the Jabolq plain, is a fertile agricultural area that has been home to generations of farmers. After graduating in Agronomy and Plant Breeding in 2009, Zahra joined the local Department of Agriculture Jihad as a contractor to assist local farmers monitor their crops. She also distributed seedlings and rootstocks (including damask rose) among local communities to help them generate an income. She subsequently acquired a Master’s degree in Food Industry Engineering in 2015, and decided to set up a small business.

Zahra hired 10 rural women to gather and petal damask roses during the blooming season and distil them for sale.

The damask rose is in bloom only for one month during the year. It took the women 1-3 days to dry out the 10 kilos flowers, and the business was labour-intensive but brought comparatively little profit. To help grow her business, Zahra moved her small rural workshop to Azna where she expanded her customer base to include tourists from neighbouring cities and provinces.

Zahra had joined the Rural Women Cooperation (under the auspices of Ministry of Agriculture Jihad) in 2009. In 2020, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Iran rolled out its Rapid Socio-Economic Response (RASER) Initiative in three provinces, including Lorestan, and she learnt through the Department of Agriculture Jihad in Azna that the scheme was offering to support micro-, small and medium-size enterprises affected by the pandemic. Her business was screened and selected as a beneficiary.