On Wednesday November 19, CIPE will celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Day with a Google Hangout discussion featuring four women entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, Kenya, Nicaragua, and Jordan. Join in to learn about our participant’s inspiring initiatives at promoting economic opportunities for women in their respective countries. The Hangout will take place at 9:00 AM EST (find out your local time here).
According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an estimated 126 million women in 2013 were starting or running new businesses in 67 economies around the world. Over the next five years, it is projected that another seven million female entrepreneurs and five million established women business owners will grow their business by at least six employees. Despite these promising statistics, in only seven countries — Thailand, Ghana, Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, Nigeria, and Mexico — do women take part in business at rates equal to men. Women’s economic potential often remains untapped as a result of social, economic, and cultural marginalization.
Understanding that there is a direct correlation between policies in place to support women and the opportunities available to women’s success in business, CIPE aims to foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem for women by supporting educational, political, civic and economic reform. CIPE’s approach to women’s empowerment is guided by the principle that for sustainable change to take place, women must have a platform to develop their power base, advocate for reform, and exert leadership to change their countries’ political, cultural, and economic environment.
Participants in tomorrow’s Hangout will include:
Lucy Valenti
President, Red de Empresarias de Nicaragua (Network of Nicaraguan Businesswomen)
Lucy Valenti is currently the President of the Network of Nicaraguan Businesswomen (REN), a nonprofit organization through which women entrepreneurs can jointly strengthen and promote the growth of their businesses, their entrepreneurial knowledge, and their personal leadership. With CIPE support, REN is currently leading a process to develop a National Businesswomen’s Agenda which calls attention to the specific obstacles faced by women-owned businesses and proposes practical solutions to overcome them.
Valenti is a successful entrepreneur in her own right, serving as Executive President of Turismo e Inversiones S.A., a firm dedicated to promoting tourism and international events in Nicaragua. Valenti has been a leader in the tourism sector (both public and private) since the mid-1990s and has served as the President of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) and President of the American Federation of Tourism Chambers (FEDECATUR).
In addition to leading her own business and REN, Valenti currently serves as Secretary of the Board of the Superior Council for Private Enterprise (COSEP), Nicaragua’s umbrella private sector association. She previously served as First Vice President of COSEP and founded and led a Gender Commission within the Council. Valenti is a journalist by profession and has a master’s degree in sustainable tourism management.
Valenti will share her personal experiences as a leader in the Nicaraguan business community and outline REN’s current efforts to create a more enabling business environment for women entrepreneurs in the country.
Selima Ahmed
Founder, Bangladesh Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI)
Selima Ahmad is the founder and president of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BWCCI). Ahmad has worked with numerous trade organizations, including the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bangladesh Automobile Assemblers and Manufacturers Association, and Bangladesh Handicraft Manufacturers and Exporters Association. In the private sector, Ahmad currently serves as Vice Chair of the Nitol-Niloy Group. She has held various top management positions in a number of companies, particularly in the areas of finance and human resources.
To help women make the leap beyond the micro level, Ahmad also brings grassroots entrepreneurs to international conventions and gatherings where they can meet with and be inspired by women who run businesses in other countries. In 2012, Ahmad was awarded The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Prize for Best Women Entrepreneur towards Development.
Ahmed will share her experience as the founder and leader of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry and speak about how the pursuit of the Women National Business Agenda (WNBA) has been successful in promoting women’s leadership and advocacy.
June Gathoni
Director, Maple Small Medium Size Enterprise Resource Centre
June Gathoni is a seasoned entrepreneur with past experience of starting and growing different enterprises cutting across different industries in Kenya. As CEO, she has led the SME Resource Centre’s vision to empower entrepreneurs and help the businesses that are the future of Kenya flourish. SME Resource Center has not only become a promising business, it has also helped thousands of entrepreneurs to grow their own businesses. The Center, located in Nairobi, advises entrepreneurs on business opportunities and also engages in consultancy work for SMEs and start-ups. Some of the services they offer their clients are business plan writing, systems management, marketing campaigns, both locally and internationally, brand management, public relations and consultancy. The center is for start-ups, SMEs and other companies that are looking for information, technical support, and empowerment in entrepreneurship. It aims to equip SMEs with financial and business management skills.
Additionally, Gathoni conducts training seminars, workshops and forums on small business practices and corporate networking. They have more than 1,000 members from Nairobi, Eastern, Central, Nyanza, Rift Valley, and Coast provinces where they hold conferences each month.
Gathoni will be speaking about how the Small Medium Size Enterprise Resource Center provides assistance to women entrepreneurs.
Lina Hundaileh
Lina Hundaileh is the Chair of the Young Entrepreneurs’ Association in Jordan and a longtime CIPE partner. As YEA’s chair, Ms. Hundaileh advocates to change Jordanian laws and shift cultural perceptions in ways that will promote an entrepreneurial culture and make starting businesses less challenging.
Hundaileh epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit. After the German company where she worked closed down their Jordan office, she decided to create her own job by opening a chocolate factory. Since then, Hundaileh has opened up a new chocolate factory, a franchise of a U.S. chocolate company, and a gummy bear factory. She also runs a consulting company that helps women and youth start businesses. Hundaileh has taken her own personal drive to succeed and applied it to improving the overall environment for women’s economic participation in Jordan.
Hundaileh will speak about the barriers for women’s economic participation in Jordan and how her organization has addressed these challenges through targeted advocacy campaigns.
If you plan on watching this discussion, please RSVP at the Google Hangout event page. It is free, and the panel will be taking questions from the audience!
Medhawi Giri is a Program Assistant for South Asia at CIPE.