Bashar Humeid shared the story of his father, who was the son of a shoemaker in Nablus, Palestine. Bashars father studied food science and started his career as a food inspector in Jordan. Although he had a stable job, he was always passionate about entrepreneurship and finding ways to improve his family’s life. Like many Palestinian immigrants, his father couldn’t return to Palestine and, in search of a better future, started several businesses. He tried making chalk factory, running a farm, and opening a bakery, but all of them failed. However, his last venture was a success—a cheese factory.

Bashar remembers how his father experimented with making cheese at home. They had a small farm with sheep, and his father tried making cheese from the sheep’s milk. One time, something went wrong with the recipe, but instead of giving up, his father kept experimenting until he created a unique type of cheese. This led to him building one of the largest sheep cheese factories in Jordan (Al-Farida cheese), working with about 100 small local farmers.

When Bashar returned to Jordan after studying and working in Europe and the UAE, he had a lot of ideas about social entrepreneurship and sustainability. He wanted to build urban farms on rooftops, but his father, being more traditional, didn’t immediately understand. While his father wasn’t focused on environmental issues in the same way, he was already practicing sustainability in his business model. He helped local farmers earn a steady income without relying on outside aid or NGO funding. It was a practical and sustainable model that worked without the need for government intervention or foreign subsidies.

Bashar admires his father’s approach more now because it was grounded in common sense. His father created real social impact by supporting small-scale farmers and helping them start their own businesses. For Bashar, this raises an important question: Why do we need all this external funding and government control to achieve sustainability? His father showed that it’s possible to create a sustainable business that benefits people and the environment without relying on aid or external pressure. Bashar’s story encourages us to think about sustainability in a more practical and business-driven way.

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