Social entrepreneur Yasmina Khababi has a passion for food. So it’s not surprising she founded Freshtable, a socially responsible business with the accent on halal and vegan cuisine, during her bachelor’s degree at EUR. Following a year-out to concentrate on growing the company, she’s now back in the seminar room studying leadership and change management for her Master’s while, of course, continuing to run Freshtable.
Mum’s recipes
Thanks to her Moroccan heritage, Yasmina grew up with an appreciation of healthy meals, always using fresh ingredients. She would take her home-cooked lunches to university and found her fellow students wanted to know more about her Mum’s recipes and asked if she could bring some food in for them.
Freshtable got underway as a pilot project with a subsidy from the European Commission. Her first customers were all students and staff at the University, then Yasmina decided to take the plunge and set up the company, becoming the first EUR non-business student to be awarded support from a Rotterdam School of Management programme.
Cuisine as a reminder of home
She says her customers in Rotterdam enjoy great food and learn about its provenance: “When we think about sustainability and climate change, the first people that suffer are refugees who have to flee their countries. They bring their cuisines with them as a reminder of home and often find their meals are popular with their new neighbours.”
“There are people from many cultures in our social enterprise, especially former refugees. These former refugees fulfil jobs they studied for and receive follow-up education from us when they join. During the Covid lockdown, when we had three months without making any profits, we kept going and donated hundreds of meals to elderly people and a women’s shelter. This fully fits our mission: we are a social enterprise, so even when times are dire we believe that making an impact and making a profit is key to our success. Donating meals is part of our belief that everyone deserves fair food accessibility”
Ramadan always comes at the right time when I need it
A real community meal
Although Yasmina loves food, she also welcomes Ramadan, when Muslims do not eat during daylight hours
“It’s more than just fasting for me, it’s about prayer and reflection, a spiritual detox and mandatory reset button. Ramadan always comes at the right time when I need it and enables me to focus on what’s important.
“Iftar, the meal that Muslims enjoy each evening, is crucial. I break my fast with a date followed most likely with vegetable soup to fuel my body in a healthy way.”
Freshtable is now making a name for itself for its external catering, especially during Ramadan. Yasmina was delighted to be asked to provide a feast of food to mark Iftar at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESBS). “This was a real community meal,” she explains. “We practise inclusivity, diversity and sustainability at university and food complements this as we need to take everyone’s needs into account.
All worth exploring
Asked to choose her favourite cuisine, Yasmina first declares “It’s not fair, it’s like being asked to choose your favourite kid,” then opts for Mediterranean dishes in general, and Lebanese in particular. “We have so many cultures within Europe. While they are all worth exploring, I find everyone likes the variety of Lebanese cooking.”
Widened horizons
Studying at EUR has widened Yasmina’s horizons and is helping her achieve her ambitions. She says it welcomed her with open arms and supported her to make friends from all over the world as well as within Europe.
“In my second year, I was taught by a Muslim lecturer, a man of Egyptian and Italian heritage. I immediately felt at home and welcomed as a Muslim student in a University that actively welcomes inclusivity on both ends of the classroom”.
During Yasmina’s bachelors’ degree in the Management of International Social Challenges, she opted to take a minor in inclusive and emergent leadership. It involved coaching students in their final year at high school: “Talking to a 17-year-old, he said he didn’t know there were so many Muslims at university in the Netherlands. After our conversation, he told me he was inspired to find out more about taking a degree.”
Not limited
As Yasmina’s studies come to an end, she has embarked on an internship with Dutch consultancy Berenschot. As part of a digital transformation team, working in leadership and change management in the public sector, she is developing new skills to open career opportunities in this field.
“With my studies coming to an end and finalizing my internship as a student-entrepreneur, my future career path is not limited to one role only. We now have so many choices. It’s not the 18th century when, if your father was a farmer, you’ll be a farmer and your kids will be farmers as well. I urge young people to follow their dreams, whatever they may be.”