When Aisha Alkhateeb, her husband, and their two children arrived in Canada from Egypt as refugees in 2023, she planned to resume her career as a dentist.
But when she saw how her mother Manal Al Sakati — who'd arrived in Canada a few years earlier via Saudia Arabia — was struggling to get her Milton, Ont., chocolate business off the ground, Alkhateeb changed her plans.
In Saudi Arabia, Al Sakati ran an in-demand artisan chocolate business.
Al Sakati, who is originally from Syria, wanted to rebuild Manal's Chocolate when she arrived in Ontario, but the move to Canada presented a new environment of different business practices and language barriers.
So, the mother-daughter duo joined forces. Alkhateeb took on the business strategy, marketing, and operations, and Al Sakati focused on crafting the high-end chocolate.
Support for newcomer women to explore their business ideas
"At that time, I didn't know much at all about business," Alkhateeb said.
She enrolled in the Newcomer Entrepreneur Women (N.E.W) Venture program, run by the Syrian Canadian Foundation (SCF) together with the Nisa Foundation for newcomer and refugee women in Ontario and Quebec.
The SCF received one of the 10 $1 million grants from the TD Ready Challenge for the SCF’s N.E.W. Venture program, which works to address barriers faced by small business owners.
The grant, which helped support the N.E.W. Venture program, focused on powering innovative, impactful, and measurable solutions — with the goal of helping entrepreneurs like Alkhateeb and her mother succeed.
"The N.E.W Venture program helped me understand marketing, finance, and how to build connections," she said, adding that it also gave her the confidence to step into entrepreneurship, a space that felt completely new.
One of the goals of the program is to help newcomer and refugee women find a path to economic and social integration via entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship can help create opportunities for income stability, and access to social and business networks can help their confidence and sense of belonging.
Right now, the mother and daughter behind Manal's Chocolate market their business at events and festivals and via their Instagram account. Customers can order from an extensive selection of treats — each handmade by Al Sakati — via WhatsApp.
Al Sakati is the artist, with extraordinarily high standards for her products. She handmakes all her chocolate fillings — raspberry jam, cheesecake, and roasted pistachio spread — a rarity in the chocolate business, Alkhateeb said.
She carefully paints intricate designs and letters on the chocolate, and tops them with items like blackberries, pomegranate, coffee beans, and gold flakes.
“She’s very precise,” Alkhateeb said. “She won’t let me help with some parts because she doesn’t want anything ruined.”
Al Sakati even puts her own spin on popular confections, like Dubai chocolate, much to the delight of customers, her daughter said.
"She added white chocolate to make it creamier," Alkhateeb said. "Everyone who tried it noticed the difference it made."
Customers order Manal's Chocolate for special events like weddings and baby showers, and for seasonal celebrations like Eid and Christmas.
"We've learned that Canadians are willing to pay for something handmade and high quality," she said.
Keeping the chocolate business in the family
The duo dreams of perhaps one day opening a storefront or working with an outside investor who would retain them both to continue creating the chocolates and managing the operations, Alkhateeb said.
She hasn't forgotten about working as a dentist in Canada, but for now she's focused on feeling settled in a new country and growing the business — perhaps with help from her sisters in the future.
“It’s a family business, and I want it to stay that way," she said.
With her two children now enrolled in junior kindergarten and kindergarten respectively, Alkhateeb said she has more time to devote to the business. But still gets to be present when her kids come home from school.
"We started to apply to come to Canada in 2016. It took seven years, but I never lost hope,” she said.
“I wanted a safe place for my children.”