WUNRN
MENA - Businesswomen in the Middle East and North Africa face many of the same challenges as businesswomen in other parts of the world: gaining access to capital to start and grow businesses, opening new markets, building strong brands and loyal customers, gaining the skills and experience to capitalize on opportunity, leveraging technology and recruiting and maintaining talent. But they face obstacles – legal, institutional, cultural – that add to the complexity of achieving success as well as centuries of tradition that define the role of women in the community and the family.
Supported by mounting evidence of the importance of women in the economy and the emergence of strong female entrepreneurs and business owners and professional women as role models, the idea for a network of businesswomen in the MENA region came from the women themselves. At a MEPI sponsored MENA Businesswomen’s Summit in Tunis in 2005, a small group of women leaders saw that through focused connection and collaboration with a purpose, they could become and be seen as engines for economic growth, resulting in progress and prosperity for women, their families, their communities in the MENA region and the world at large.
Being businesswomen, they set out to make it happen.
Registered as its own entity in November 2010 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the MENA BWN today is made up of ten businesswomen’s organizations, representing almost 2,500 members, who are country “Hubs” in the Network and whose leaders share a vision for women’s economic empowerment in the MENA region. The founding members are businesswomen’s organizations in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and the UAE/Dubai.
As a Network, they represent a unified voice for women committed to social
progress through economic development. It is a remarkable achievement to have
evolved from an unstructured group of organizations into a 10‐country
member organization in just four years. Its leaders have built trusted
relationships across a diverse region encompassing North Africa, the Levant and
the Gulf; they have embraced and realized the “pay it forward” model of
leadership by giving back to their communities, youth and other women; and they
have promoted and affirmed the role of women in business.
Businesswomen focus on goals and outcomes in their businesses and they bring
the perspective to the MENA BWN. Their goal: “Increase opportunities for women
to advance in their economies by strengthening and expanding theMENA
Businesswomen’s Network and its Network Hubs to have a greater impact on its
members and contribute to the larger community.”
Their mission: Expand the number of women in business; increase the value of their businesses; promote a regional culture of entrepreneurship, particularly among youth; advance the role and perception of women in society; develop and support each other as leaders; advocate for women’s economic and social progress; create synergy with other regional and global networks and maintain and celebrate the strong cultural traditions and heritage of MENA women.
Looking to the future, the leadership of the MENA BWN is committed to achieving Network sustainability, already fo‐ cusing on key factors that will contribute to success: continuing to have a shared vision, to deliver member value, to build up the organizational infrastructure, to diversify funding sources and types and to execute at the Network level.
RESULTS AND IMPACTS
Three key objectives were established to support the overarching goal and there was progress against each by both quantitative and qualitative measures. The data reported below was collected through quarterly report‐ ing from Hubs, annual Impact Surveys and Vital Voices evaluation of the project. The results reflect and sup‐ ports the economic achievements of the Network and its member Hubs:
1. Build the next generation of women business leaders and entrepreneurs
through Network and Hub capac‐
ity building, leadership development, business skills training, and mentoring
programs.
► Over 18,500 businesswomen and men participated in Hub programs
► 478 new businesses were started by female participants
► The number of women employed by female participants increased by 5%
► 13% of participants report increase in business revenue as a result of
program participation
► 91% of participants reported benefit to their business as a result of
program participation
► 10 member Hubs represent almost 2,500 members
2. Reduce barriers to women’s economic participation and enable Network
members to become advocates to advance laws and policies that allow them to
participate fully in the economy.
► 20 advocacy campaigns were launched by Hubs and 8 new policies were
successfully advocated
► Over the course of the project, participants reported their
participation in CSOs/NGOs, growing from
50% in 2008 to over 70% in 2010
3. Create a marketplace for ideas, collaboration and exchange to advance
women’s economic opportunities through the MENA BWN.
► The MENA BWN Portal www.menabwn.org was enhanced
to include a professional directory and re‐
ceives about 4,500 hits per month with approximately 300 active users
► 66% of participants report making new business to business connections
► 16 Corporate Ambassador Program events were held, reaching almost 2,000
participants
These numbers demonstrate the impact that women entrepreneurs and business owners and professional women have on society: they have created new businesses, created jobs, increased revenue and connected thousands of people to their mutual benefit and they are extremely active in civil society in their communities.
MEMBERSHIP
• Algeria: Association des Algériennes Managers et Entrepreneurs (AME)
• Bahrain: Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society (BBS)
• Egypt: Association for Women’s Total Advancement and Development (AWTAD)
• Jordan: Business & Professional Women ‐ Amman (BPW‐A)
• Lebanon: Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB)
• Morocco: A ssociation des Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises du Maroc (AFEM)
• Palestine: Business Women Forum ‐ Palestine (BWF)
• Qatar: Qatari Business Women Association (QBWA)
• Tunisia: Chambre Nationale des Femmes Chef D’Entreprises (CNFCE)
• United Arab Emirates: Dubai Business Women Committee (DBWC)