Moroccan Immigrant Family Builds Vegetable Empire in Spain, Employing 250

Moroccan Azahara Arif, who arrived in Spain in 1990 at the age of 26, started with odd jobs as a maid and nanny. Three years later, she met her husband, Mouhy Eddine Azzi, who was working as a laborer in an orchard in Fuenlabrada. With their savings, they later started creating small businesses. First a cafeteria, then a butcher’s shop, and then a fruit and vegetable market that opened the doors to prosperity and allowed them to make a name for themselves in this sector. All the companies bear the name Azahara.

Today, Frutas Azahara, the fruit and vegetable company, has 41 stores in the Madrid region. It generates an annual turnover of 28 million euros and has 250 employees. Lamia, 24, Azahara and Mouhy’s daughter, works as the company’s financial director. She speaks four languages, has two master’s degrees and a lot of ambition. She plans to open stores in other provinces and venture into online sales and modernize this sector, learning from the confinement of recent months. Lamia hopes that the example of perseverance of her parents, who arrived in Spain as migrants, starting from nothing to build their empire, will inspire others. "With little means but a lot of dreams and motivation, you achieve what you want," she said.

In addition to the vegetable markets, Frutas Azahara has its own production and operates as a wholesaler. Its headquarters in Griñón is a large warehouse where restaurant owners and individuals come to stock up on watermelons imported from Agadir and Zagora, and grown on several hectares on the outskirts of Griñón.

Azahara Arif and her family lead a fairly quiet life. Mouhy, her 63-year-old husband, recently had a heart attack and has reduced his work pace to seven hours a day.