Putting faith in a new uniform
FATIMAH Hussein was born in Somalia and immigrated to Minneapolis when she was 6 with her family, fleeing civil war. Hussein and her sister played softball when they were young, but in middle school they stopped, as did many of their Muslim peers. “It was not normal to see girls playing sports,” she said of her childhood.
“You’d see boys continuing to play and getting support by the parents,” said Hussein, now 29 and a social worker. “It’s not that my dad ever said, ‘You can’t play’, but we just never got that encouragement.”
Another impediment was that Hussein and her sister wore hijabs, the scarves that many Muslim women and girls use to cover their heads, ears and necks. The garments are typically made of thick fabric that wraps around the neck; some hijabs require pins as fasteners. On the playing field, hijabs are prone to unravelling, and they can be hot and unwieldy. Sometimes they’re even dangerous – other players could trip on them if they unravel, or the pins could jab the wearer or others.
During her childhood Hussein said she was preoccupied by thoughts of “this doesn’t look right, this is falling, I don’t feel comfortable inside”.
Eight years ago, she realised that the young girls she worked with at a Minneapolis community centre shared those feelings, so she founded the Girls Initiative in Recreation and Leisurely Sports, or GIRLS, a program that provides girlsonly gym time at the centre.
Next she decided to tackle the hijab issue. A year ago, she and a business partner started Asiya, a company that sells headscarves designed for sports.
The Asiya hijabs are made of a lightweight, sweat-wicking fabric, and they come in three styles with varying degrees of coverage. They don’t require wrapping or pins because they’re snug-fitting with built-in headbands that further secure the fabric to the body.
For Hussein, who works full-time as a social worker and had no business background, the transition into entrepreneurship presented a steep learning curve. A small corps of businesswomen in Minneapolis, along with a state senator, swooped in to help bring her product to market. Asiya’s story shows how mentors can be integral to a new business’ growth.
A year and a half ago, an early design of what would become the Asiya hijab caught the eye of Minnesota State Senator Kari Dziedzic during a fashion show. She recognised a potential benefit to the state’s Muslim girls and to the economy, in terms of job creation, so she volunteered to help connect Hussein with local entrepreneurs. One of them was Monica Nassif, founder of Caldrea Co and Mrs Meyer’s Clean Day, both of which make aromatic cleaning products. Nassif said she was drawn to the idea right away.
“I grew up in a family of athletes, and I knew the power of sport,” she said.
Nassif began advising Hussein on a volunteer basis, as did a couple of other businesswomen. “What are you good at? What do you have time for?” were her initial questions for Hussein, she said.
The two biggest challenges to Hussein’s success, as Nassif saw it, were time and money constraints. She felt strongly that Asiya needed to be the first to market in the United States, which would require the company to raise capital.
“If you look at any category, the first three players get to own the shelf,” she said. “The shelf in the retail store, or the shelf in the consumer’s mind. It’s really important to be one of the leaders.”
Getting any product to market quickly requires focus, and often entrepreneurs get in their own way. “I call it falling in love with yourself,” Nassif said. “A lot of people get so enraptured with their idea that they can’t actually put their head down and get the work done.”
While Hussein understood the product, she would need a partner who could help figure out how to sell it. By putting out feelers at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, Nassif found an MBA student named Jamie Glover who was interested in teaming up with Hussein. Glover had spent a decade working in marketing, at 3M and at a local advertising agency. She had also played on her college’s varsity softball and volleyball teams.
Once she agreed to join forces with Hussein, they officially started Asiya. The company researched fabrics and had the participants in Hussein’s GIRLS gym program test prototypes.
“Not only did it need to be a sweat- wicking, breathable performance fabric, but because it’s on your face and neck, it had to be very lightweight, soft and stretchy,” Glover said, adding that they were determined to find a US manufacturer.
To raise money and do more networking, the Asiya founders entered their business plan last year in a startup competition called the Minnesota Cup, which attracted more than 1,500 participants. Asiya won the social entrepreneurship category and was chosen as the top female-led and minorityled business – honours that pulled in $65,000 in capital.
In the fall, Asiya raised an additional $38,000 through a Kickstarter campaign. In February it plans to begin delivering hijabs to its 859 Kickstarter backers. The hijabs were priced at $25 apiece on Kickstarter, but Hussein and Glover have yet to set a permanent price. They will sell the hijabs, which are manufactured in Brainerd, Minnesota, on the Asiya website starting February 1. They also hope to sell them at sporting goods stores and through retailers that specialise in modest clothing.