Sweet dream! Syria refugee's candy factory flourishing in London

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Nader Basha came to Canada dreaming of opening a candy factory.

The third-generation confectioner and owner of Basha Handy Candy, who came to London as a Syrian refugee in 2015, grew up learning the tricks of the trade from his late father and is now using the machinery from his family’s factory in Jordan to churn out treats at a south London production facility.

“There are so many feelings every time I work in this shop or see this machinery. I remember my dad and my grandpa,” said Basha, 34. “Having something you learned from your dad or family, it’s really sentimental. You feel good when you share your skills with others.”

Basha Handy Candy opened up a retail store at its Adelaide Street South factory in May, adding marshmallows, fudge and lollipops to its roster of taffy and gummy candies.

“It’s my dream coming true, to be honest,” he said Sunday. “We’re still a new business, and there are challenges, but so far so good.”

Basha Handy Candy, eager to get its products in front of more customers, is eyeing a lease at a major London mall, Basha said.

It’s also making an impression on social media. One of its videos about the business’s family history has been viewed more than 2.2 million times on TikTok.

His grandfather started a candy-making business in Hama, Syria in 1948. It operated until 1982, when the city was besieged by the Syrian army in a violent push to quell an anti-government uprising. The massacre forced his grandfather to flee to Jordan and Basha’s father to flee to Kuwait.

Basha’s dad, Talal Basha, started his own candy business in Kuwait, but the confectionary faltered during the Gulf War. He then moved to Jordan, where he opened a candy factory in 1991, Basha said.

He and his brothers were raised around the business, Basha said. Their dad taught them how to make taffy and other candies using heavy-duty candy making machinery.

But life for non-citizens living in Jordan was difficult, Basha said. Non-citizens faced employment barriers and the threat of deportation.

He completed a business degree in Jordan and, as violence escalated in Syria in 2015, came to Canada as a refugee sponsored by his aunt, who was already in London. In December 2017, his younger brother arrived as a church-sponsored Syrian refugee and helped Basha open a small, 400-square-foot candy-making business in London the following year.

Basha worked at Cargill during the week and made candy with his brother, then a Toyota factory employee, on weekends. He handled his own distribution, packing boxes of the handmade candy in his car to sell at a handful of retailers.

His other brother arrived in Canada in September 2019. The family was working to get Talal Basha, who was still running his candy-making business in Syria, to Canada but he passed away unexpectedly in December 2019.

“We had dreams to move our machinery from Jordan, along with my dad, with all his years of experience. He passed away suddenly. He wasn’t sick or anything,” Basha said Sunday. “It was a real trauma for us.”

Basha, tasked with winding down his late father’s business in Jordan, travelled there three months later but was unable to leave the country for seven months as COVID-19 restrictions closed borders and halted international travel.

He was able to return home in late 2020 and arrange for several of his dad’s German-made 1960s candy equipment to be shipped to London. After months of getting the candy-making machinery up to Canadian safety standards, production began at the south London facility in May 2021.

Basha, who became a Canadian citizen earlier this year, is already thinking ahead to the next generation of candy makers. His son was born just a week after his dad’s death in December 2019. He’s named Talal Jr. after his grandfather.

“I want to teach him to make candy one day,” he said.

jbieman@postmedia.com