OUR STORY

LET'S CULTIVTE HOPE ONE SAFFRON TRHEAD AT A TIME...

Founder's Story
I am Mohammad Salehi, the owner of Heray Spice. My roots are deeply embedded in the soil of Herat, Afghanistan, where I spent the first 21 years of my life. Following high school, I took on a meaningful role as a Local Military Linguist for the US Army & US Marines at Camp Stone in Herat, Afghanistan. 
In 2014, I embarked on a new journey, immigrating to Chicago, Illinois. While adjusting to life in a new land, I dedicated 7 years to pursuing higher education, becoming the first in my family's generations to complete a college degree. I hold both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer and cyber security from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
Heray Spice's Starting Point
My upbringing in a farming family sensitized me to the struggles farmers face in Afghanistan merely to make a basic living. This realization fueled my passion to establish Heray Spice, a company in Chicago (and cooperative in Afghanistan) committed to ensuring farmers receive fair compensation for their saffron and crops, enabling them to educate their children and build a brighter future for themselves.
21 YEARS OF FARMING + ADVOCATE OF FARMERS FAIR WAGES FOR LIFE
4 YEARS OF SERVICE AS INTERPRETER FOR US MILITARY FORCES + 8 YEARS OF SAFFRON QUALITY ASSURANCE
Our Mission

1) Uplifting Afghanistan farmers’ community by paying fair wages for their saffron and crops.


2) Making authentic Afghanistan saffron & spices accessible to chefs and home-cooks in United States. 


3) Helping farmers to cultivate saffron instead of poppy seeds.


4) Employing Afghanistan women, and contributing to education projects by giving 5% of our net-income back to education charities.

Why Heray Spice?
Fair-Trade, Sustainably Sourced Spices, Traceable and Equitable for All

Fair Wages For All

Heray Spice operates as a public benefit comany, driven by the belief that everyone involved in farming should earn a sustainable and fair income. 


Our journey began in April 2017, and we officially launched our product in 2018. Starting with a modest 3 LB of saffron from my own family, we've grown to include 175 farmers and 110 independent farms in our cooperative. 


Last year alone, we imported and sold over 280 LB of saffron. Not only we pay local family farmers with fair wage & better price for their saffron, but also we created 45 - 55 seasonal job opportunitines for local farmers and residents of Herat.

Over $460,000 paid directly to farmers & seasonal employees for their saffron and services since 2018.
225 farmers and seasonal employees directlly benefited from Heray Spice Cooperative

A REPLACEMENT FOR POPPY SEEDS

At Heray Spice, we believe in helping Afghanistan farmers to cultivate saffron instead of poppy, and making a better living for themselves. For Afghanistan soil, weather, and enviroment this is the perfect replacement.

On average after the first year, saffron produces three times better crop value compared to poppy seeds.

It is also our dream to make Afghanistan famous for the beautiful flowers of SAFFRON and NOT the opium & poppy seeds.

 Education For All

We are committed to empowering women and supporting education in Afghanistan through Heray Education Fund where we contribute 5% of our net-income to Education Charities inside Afghanistan.

We are partnering with Code To Inspire (CTI) Organization, and Mr Faez Academy, two highly respected organizations that are dedicated to make positive impacts on Afghanistan women and empowerment of young girls through education and writing of code.

Learn more about CTI here.

Our Values

What Sets Us Apart?

Our Team

━━ The Team Behind Heray Spice━━

MOHAMMAD SALEHI

CEO & Owner

ANITA Salehi

Chief Blending Officer & Owner

SHAHRAM

MOHAMMADI

VP of Supply Chain

Nemat
salehi

Farmers Co-Op Coordinator

Tariq Shaheen

Quality Assurance

Masoud Ahmadi

Sales & Marketing

Masih Rastar

Fulfillment & Sales

Zubair Yousofi

Import & Export

Our Farmers

━━ The Roots of Heray Spice: Our Hardworking176 Farmers━━

━━ What Does Heray Mean?

Heray or Heraywa is the ancient name for the current city of Herat. Heray was a famous and important city of Khorasan province during Sasanian dynasty. It was also named as the “Crown of Khorasan”.

We named our company Heray Spice, because 90% of Afghanistan saffron is cultivated in this province, and Heray is our hometown. Our founder Mohammad Salehi grew up in Herat Afghanistan, and I went to Heray High School (A local high school in Herat City of Afghanistan). And that is why we named our compnay as Heray Spice.

━━ What is Heray Spice Cooperative?

Heray Spice is a local business based in Chicago Illinois with a social mission to help farmers with better wages while helping chefs with freshest and highest quality spices from Afghanistan.


We are also a farmers co-operative based in Herat Afghanistan where we bring farmers together to train them on food safety, standard packaging, and safe processing of saffron. 


To import the highest quality saffron and pay our farmers better wages, Heray farms are owned by local farmers and has partnership to only supply saffron for Heray Spice. Our farmers are being paid based on fair-trade principles.