From Homeless Refugee to Business Owner at 17
I wasn’t just struggling. I was barely surviving.
At 17, I fled war in Afghanistan and ended up in Italy.
I had no papers, no money, and no way to speak the language.
I was just another homeless illegal, beaten daily by local gangs.
One day, I sat on the sidewalk and broke down crying.
I had two choices. End it or try to survive.
I chose to survive.
I walked the streets of Rome looking for anything that could make money.
I saw another immigrant washing a store window and asked if it paid enough for rent and food.
He said it did.
I stole a squeegee from a gas station and started washing storefronts.
Some shop owners paid me.
Some gave me food.
Some chased me with sticks.
Rome is a massive city, and all the bottom floors are shops.
There were endless businesses.
Over time, I learned which ones would pay and which ones wouldn’t.
A week later, another immigrant in the same situation asked me what I did to survive.
I told him.
He said he couldn’t do it because it felt like begging, but he had an idea.
He would wash the windows. I would ask for the money.
We would split the earnings. I agreed.
The next day, he brought his cousin.
He asked if he could do the same.
I said of course.
Two months later, I had a team of 18 people.
I didn’t plan to build a business. I was just trying to survive.
But I learned something that shaped everything I did after.
People will pay for two reasons.
- One, they won’t do it themselves.
- Two, they truly need your help.
That’s all business is.
I helped immigrants make money when they had nothing.
And I was willing to do what they wouldn’t - ask for it.
It wasn’t about strategy.
It was about humility, survival, and solving a real problem.
That was my first business. Built by accident.
And I’ve been building ever since.
If you want to create something from nothing, message me.
