ShareBy Majd Othman
KUWAIT: After a break of two years due to the COVID pandemic, "Qout Market" reopened its doors to visitors to enjoy the positive and wonderful vibes. Qout Market is a concept created by two Kuwaiti women - Nouf Hussain and Bedoor Al-Qassar - 10 years ago, which aims to support local and small businesses to promote themselves through this market, in addition to providing customers fresh products produced locally with Kuwaiti hands.
Kuwait Times on Saturday met the co-founders at the Qout Market held at Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre garden. The event was sponsored by major private sector companies including Zain and Gulf Bank. The next event will be held on Feb 18. The co-founders said Qout Market started in 2013 as a small food and craftmarket, and over the years, the initiative grew from one location to another. This year, it is considered sort of its 10th anniversary since launching the event.
"Due to our love of food and markets that we experience every time we travel, we decided to launch the Qout Market, especially since we don't have these types of markets in Kuwait. We have everything available in the country, starting from people who produce fresh food to wonderful local handmade crafts, beautiful locations and supportive sponsors," Hussain and Qassar said.
"At the first edition of Qout Market, we only had 10 booths, but 5,000 people attended. So we realized immediately that we will have a bigger audience in the next edition. They are only awaiting an opportunity to participate with us," they said. "Our hope is to effect change in our community by creating this platform. We want to be part of the solution instead of complaining there is nothing to do. Our main goal is to provide help to businesses and for people to have a family-friendly entertaining day. We are pleased with the supportive role private companies are playing, while Kuwaiti local businesses and initiatives are 100 percent supportive of us too."
Masoud Salem Al-Sroor, Public Relations Officer at Zain, told Kuwait Times: "We are glad to be a part of this great initiative in order to support Kuwaiti youth and their events, which reflects Zain's image in the community as well as SMEs. Joining these events is a great opportunity to continue our mission to support them as always."
Fahad Al-Sharrah, Assistant Manager Corporate Communications at Gulf Bank, said: "We are pleased to renew our partnership with Qout Market, for it to continue to play a wonderful role in supporting the youth and local specialists in agriculture, handcrafts and the food industry within the community." He pointed out Qout Market is an ideal opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs and SMEs and allow them to exchange ideas and experiences with one another and listen to the opinions and suggestions of the general public.
