The discovery of a passion
My name is Adil Belmouden, the son of the most wonderful mom, Fatima Igouzal Belmouden. In 2017, we discovered that my mom had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands. She had to undergo surgery on both hands, which left her unable to work during her recovery. She was at home, barely able to use her hands, and found it incredibly boring.
The introduction to creativity and wool
During this time, I introduced her to social media, especially Instagram and Pinterest. That’s where the creatives are, and my mom loves to stay busy with creative projects! One day, I came across Merino wool and showed it to her. She was immediately excited – she had never seen, felt, or worked with such wool before.
From hobby to business
Curious, I dove into the internet to discover everything about this wool: where to buy it and what we could make with it. Eventually, I bought several kilos as a surprise. My mom immediately started with a big smile, and within an hour, she had created a beautiful blanket! But to my surprise, she immediately unraveled it: "Now I’m going to make something else," she said. She started making all sorts of different products, which you can find on our webshop today.
The birth of BELM
At that time, the webshop didn’t exist yet, but I saw how happy it made her. This was the ultimate gift: her own little business! While she was busy, I secretly learned along the way and knew that mass production would take up a lot of her energy. So, I began to stock up and started the business: I built a workshop, created a webshop, and purchased kilos of wool from all over the world. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the first order…
My mom doesn’t have Facebook, so I decided to announce BELM there for the first time. Five minutes after my post, the first order came in! The next day, I went to my mom, showed her the order, and said:
“Mom, this is BELM. Your business.