Arab Women Rising

244 Pages·2017·1.31 MB·English

36 Entrepreneurs Making a Difference
in the Arab World
AR AB
WOMEN
RISING
Nafeesa Syeed
Rahilla Zafar
Contents
Acknowledgments
2
Foreword
3
Introduction
5
Part One 10
Trailblazers: Making It in a Traditional World
Jalila Tamallah: A Blossoming Business in Tunisia
11
Maha Al-Farhan: Striking a Balance between
14
Business Success and a Happy Home
Rasha Shehada: A Daughter Is Awarded Control of a
20
Family Business
Wafa Sayadi: Another Person’s Trash Is Her Business
24
Adela Bint Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud: A Royal
30
Advocate for Women in Saudi Arabia
Part Two 37
Tech Entrepreneurs: Finding New Avenues through Technology
Yasmine El-Mehairy: The Entrepreneur behind
38
Egypt’s SuperMama
Heidi Belal: An Egyptian Entrepreneur’s Mix of Computers
44
and Cookies
Hanan Abdel Meguid: Choosing Personal Happiness and
50
Career Success
Leila Belkhira Jaber: A CEO Carries on the Business
61
Her Late Brother Founded
Lamies El-Hussieny: EgyDroid’s Smart Smartphone Girl
67
Part Three 71
Entrepreneurs: Rebuilding the Arab World
Maha Mahgoub: Promoter of Entrepreneurs
72
Nayla Al Khaja: A Filmmaker Seeks Support for the
77
Burgeoning Emirati Movie Industry
Rasha Abdel Rahmen: An Entrepreneur Establishes
81
Her T-Shirt Republic
Deena Fadel: Her Exercise in Creativity and Entrepreneurship
88
Hiba Jammal: Cooking Up Innovation in the Catering World
93
Loula Zaklama: The Unwitting Pioneer
104
Rana El Chemaitelly: Inspired to Create a Science Education
114
Franchise
Part Four 118
Innovators: Reinventing the Middle East
Sally Sabry and Doaa Zaki: Behind the Success of Modesty
119
Covers in Egypt
Randa Abdou: An Egyptian Marketing Expert Seeking to
125
Rebrand Her Country
Esra’a Al Shafei: Using Digital Innovation to Amplify
133
Minority Voices
Nadia Wassef: Opening a New Chapter for Arabic Booksellers
141
Ranwa Yehia: Foundation Nudges Youth toward Expression
149
through Digital Means
Dana Al Taji: A Designer Who Modernizes Islamic Dress
159

Part Five 165
Leaders: New Ways Forward for the Region
Nisreen Shocair: Leading the Reemergence of the
166
Arabic Entertainment Industry
Fahda bint Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud:
170
A Royal Legacy for Women’s Education
Huda Al Lawati: Breaking Barriers in Private Equity
177
Rama Chakaki: Nurturing Entrepreneurs Is a Heartfelt Mission
181
Contents
Yasmin Altwaijri: A Saudi Scientist Tackles Mental Health
188
and Obesity
Sadika Keskes: A Tunisian Glass Artist’s Effort Displays
192
Women’s Strength
Part Six
Social Entrepreneurs: Lending a Helping Hand
Asma Mansour: The Social Business
200
Yasmin Helal: Helping Cairo’s Poorest Children Learn
203
Essma Ben Hamida: Bringing Microfinance to Tunisia
209
Maali Alasousi: A Kuwaiti Woman Leading Development
219
Efforts in Yemen
Maha Helali: A Mother’s Mission to Build Acceptance for
224
Autism in the Middle East
Raghda El Ebrashi: A Social Entrepreneur Offers Jobs and
231
Acceptance for the Poor

About the Contributors
238
About Knowledge@Wharton
240
© 2014 by Knowledge@Wharton
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher.
Company and product names mentioned herein are
the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Knowledge@Wharton
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
332 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104
ISBN: 978-1-62921-079-7
The women featured on the Arab Women Rising cover include
(clockwise from top left): Yasmine Mehairy; Dana Al Taji; Asma Mansour;
Essma Ben Hamida; Hanan Abdel Meguid; Deena Fadel; Jalilah Tamallah;
Nisreen Shocair; Rama Chakaki; Randa Abdou; and Maha Mahgoub.
Arab Women Rising
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the inspiring women featured
in this book for sharing their experiences, insights, and
wisdom with others. This project would not have been possible
without Nafeesa Syeed and Rahilla Zafar and their tireless efforts
in creating the book’s content by reporting from all over the
world and on the ground in the Middle East and North Africa.
Thanks are also due to Suleman Din and Pankaj Paul,
who shepherded this project from the very beginning.
—Knowledge@Wharton
2
Foreword
One evening in 2008, I decided to protest having to purchase my
personal garments from a man, and the “Lingerie Campaign” was born
in Saudi Arabia. Three years later, the Saudi authorities announced
major plans to tackle women’s unemployment and tens of thousands
of jobs opened up.
Until 2011, the public workplace in Saudi Arabia was operated
entirely by men. The sales and operations of the $10 billion-plus retail
sector, from car tires to toys to lingerie, were all run by male salespeople.
Women’s participation in the private sector was a meager 1.5%, and the
unemployment rate among job seekers was rapidly on the rise.
In June 2012, I received a phone call from Arabian Business
magazine, informing me that I had been nominated as the third most
powerful Arab woman that year for my efforts in campaigning for
women’s employment in the retail sector.
Women in other Arab countries have driven their cars for decades,
mastered various career skills far earlier than we did in Saudi Arabia,
and enjoyed different levels of freedom only an Arab would be able to
accurately assess. We Arabs are different from one another in many
ways. We share language, religion, and often the culture and traditions,
all with intricate dissimilarity. Twists in accent, variation in levels of
traditionalism and conformity to norms and religion, and of course,
lifestyles, fashion, and modes of daily living all define who we are.
With that said, it is not surprising that non-Arabs make little
distinction among the natives of different Arab countries. However,
in a world with a population of 7 billion, massive urbanization, and
growing demand on resources, getting to understand each other
has become essential to building bridges between nations for better
coexistence and peace.
A hotly debated and controversial issue in the Arab world is the
role of women. In most western literature, we are commonly depicted
as submissive, family-focused, financially dependent, and sensual. In
33
Foreword
fact, the mainstream media classifies Arab women as either affluent
and indulging or battered, weak, and oppressed.
In a more connected and well-informed world, it is naïve to label
and view millions of women so simplistically and stereotypically,
especially when these generalizations shape public opinion (and even
policy) against a key part of the world.
Media and literature can play a great role in neutralizing these
stereotypes. One way to eradicate such stereotypes is through more
accurate and apolitical works that reach a wide segment of readers.
This important collection from Knowledge@Wharton, Arab Women
Rising, aims to provide a closer look into the lives of women from
different parts of the Arab World. A fresh and modern-day perspective,
it focuses on the stories and lives of a diverse group of professional and
accomplished women from Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other
countries. The aim is to gain insight into how they began their journey
and where they are today.
Representing an interesting array of fields and domains, these
women defy the prevailing image of subjugation and failure. They
excel in arts, sciences, medicine, photography, fashion, and technology,
among other fields, and were able to compete with their counterparts
worldwide.
I am thrilled that Knowledge@Wharton contributors Nafeesa
Syeed and Rahilla Zafar genuinely hope to break some stereotypes by
publishing the real stories of accomplished women, from a variety of
backgrounds and social strata.
We still don’t know what the future holds. There are still vast areas
of empty land in Saudi Arabia, and we women still can’t drive our cars.
How things will unfold remains uncertain, but I have strong faith
in natural “evolution.” It is the process of progress and growth that is
worth documenting and learning from.
—Reem Asaad
4
Arab Women Rising
Introduction
The germ for this book emerged from a 2010 article that appeared
in the Arabic section of Knowledge@Wharton, the online business
journal of the Wharton School, under the headline “How Women
Entrepreneurs Are Driving Business in the Middle East.” It featured
women ranging from the founder of an investment bank in Morocco
to the organizer of an entrepreneurship center in Qatar. The article was
very popular among Knowledge@Wharton readers, which prompted
us to ask, who else was out there? Then came the Arab Spring. New
possibilities appeared to open up for women’s participation in social
and political spheres as well.
Against this backdrop, we set out at the end of 2011 to begin
documenting the experiences of Arab women entrepreneurs. But
first we had to ask: what, or who, is an entrepreneur? Experts gave
us myriad definitions. Some said any person starting a moneymaking
venture, from a stall on the road to a tech firm, is an entrepreneur.
Others added that entrepreneurs could also include those who unveil a
new product or service into their respective markets. Yet another camp
insisted that an entrepreneur could also be someone who introduced a
sustainable method of social change whose impact could be measured.
In the end, it became clear that entrepreneurs are both innovators and
initiators. We sought out women who possessed these qualities as they
pushed the definition of entrepreneurship to new frontiers in their
diverse fields.
We had to be mindful of the context. We were not so much
chronicling a new phenomenon as capturing the latest phase in a long-
running tradition. There are historical accounts of businesswomen
and female leaders in Arab lands dating back more than a millennium.
Moreover, many Arab countries have strong women’s movements that
have worked for decades on issues such as legal rights and literacy.
5
Introduction
However, recent decades have seen great shifts and expanded
opportunities for women all over the Arab world. For those who could
not previously participate in shaping their own destiny, the playing
field has been leveled as never before.
During the past 40 years, gaps in literacy and school enrollment
have been narrowed, with women now outnumbering men at
universities in most Arab nations. This has resulted in greater numbers
of women entering the job market. In fact, the World Bank says female
participation in the labor force is expected to reach 43% in 2020. The
Bank has also said that women’s entrepreneurship in the region could
help Arab countries create more and better jobs. As women introduce
new ideas, production techniques, and technology, their businesses
could “boost productivity growth across the economy, even spurring
existing firms to raise their productivity,” according to a World Bank
report. And it could encourage more women to take on leadership
roles in society.
Indeed, the region carries some of the world’s highest rates of
unemployment, which hits women particularly hard as more of
them seek occupations. In addition, sought-after government jobs
won’t satiate a growing female labor force. Moreover, women also
face obstacles entering the private sector. Striking out on their own,
creating a space for themselves, may be the answer.
As their stories here attest, Arab women are an inventive lot.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012 Women’s Report, lead-
sponsored by Babson College, shows that in the Middle East and
North Africa, there are higher average levels of innovation for
women than men. This indicates that women in the region turning to
entrepreneurship “are more likely than their male counterparts to offer
something they perceive as innovative.”
For every woman entrepreneur in the region, the report says, there
are six more women who would like to set up a business within the
next few years. For every male entrepreneur, there are only 2.5 more
men who intend to start an enterprise.
6