Client Success Story: Jemil Bogale, Arif Printing and Embroidery
When COVID-19 hit, Jemil Bogale lost everything. His limousine company, which he’d built from scratch after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Ethiopia, was gone. His credit was destroyed. He had no money and no clear path forward. But Jemil had something more valuable than either: an unwillingness to give up.
“I never really had a lot of jobs that I worked for anybody,” Jemil explains. He’d always been an entrepreneur at heart—starting as an airport valet in Denver, then driving taxis, then launching his own town car service that grew into a full limousine company. So when the pandemic closed that chapter, he didn’t look for a job. He looked for his next venture. With what little money he’d scraped together, he bought a couple of printers and started teaching himself a completely new trade. “I bought a printer, and then I learned how to use the printer,” he says. That self-taught determination became the foundation of Arif Printing and Embroidery.
Here’s the thing about starting over with damaged credit: traditional lenders don’t want to hear your story. But CEDS Finance did. Despite his credit challenges, CEDS saw Jemil’s potential and offered him a murabaha product—an Islamic-compliant loan that aligned with his values. More importantly, they gave him something he didn’t even know he needed: financial guidance. “The whole experience with CEDS is more than the loan—it’s the support,” Jemil says. “They helped me understand how I was handling my money before they gave me the money.” Through multiple Zoom sessions with CEDS staff, he learned financial management skills that transformed how he ran his business. CEDS even connected him with job opportunities that helped him make his loan payments while his business was getting off the ground. “The value is countless,” he adds.
Today, Jemil is bringing people’s visions to life—literally. Arif Printing and Embroidery handles everything from banners and business cards to window graphics and massive 60-inch photo frames. He works with clients who sometimes have fully formed designs and others who just have a rough idea, helping them figure it out along the way. What drives him isn’t the paycheck—though he’s quick to note he does need to support his family. It’s those morning-after phone calls. “Wow, you did this, you did that, I can’t believe you did this for this much,” clients tell him. “That is definitely worth more than the money.”
From refugee to transportation entrepreneur to print shop owner, Jemil’s path hasn’t been straightforward. But with CEDS Finance’s support, he’s built something sustainable that lets him do what he loves: taking someone’s idea and making it real. Visit arifneedles.com to see what he can create for you.
