women entrepreneurs in the middle east and north africa

International Finance CorporationGender Entrepreneurship Markets

2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20433, USA

Email: [email protected]: www.ifc.org/GEM

Center of Arab Womenfor Training and Research

P.O. Box 105, 1003 Cité el Khadra,Tunis, TunisiaEmail: [email protected]: www.cawtar.org

Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa:Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges

Center of Arab Women forTraining and Research

CAWTAR

Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa:

Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges

P U B L I S H E D B Y

The Center of Arab Women for Training and Researchand

The International Finance Corporation Gender Entrepreneurship Markets

J u n e 2 0 0 7

Recognizing that aspiring businesswomen are often prevented fromrealizing their economic potential because of gender inequality, IFClaunched the Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (GEM) initiative inDecember 2004.

If you would like more information on IFC GEM’s work, please visitour website at: www.ifc.org/GEM or contact:

International Finance Corporation Gender Entrepreneurship Markets2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20433, USATel: + 1 202 473 1028E-mail: [email protected]

CAWTAR’s mission is to contribute to the improvement andpromotion of Arab women’s role and status through fostering PolicyDialogue. The Center undertakes its multi-faceted objectives throughfive main programs: Research and publication of Arab WomenDevelopment Reports (AWDRs), Training, Networking andPartnerships, Media and Communication, Documentation andDatabases.

For further information, please visit our website at: www.cawtar.org or contact:

The Center of Arab Women for Training and ResearchP.O. Box 105 Cité El Khadra 1003, Tunis - TunisiaTel: +216 71 773 511Fax: +216 71 773 611, +216 71 780 002E-mail: [email protected]


CAWTAR

Dubai Women’s College

Institut Supérieur de Gestion(Tunisia)Chambre Nationale Des Femmes

Chefs D’Entreprises (Tunisia)

Jordan Forum For Businessand Professional Women

(Jordan)

(Bahrain)

Lebanese Business WomenAssociation (Lebanon)

Bahrain Center for Studies and Research

(Bahrain)

Center for Women Studies(Jordan)

Center for DevelopmentStudies, MADMA

(Lebanon)

(UAE)

(UAE)

(UAE)


CAWTAR

WOMEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS AND RESEARCH CENTERS

PARTNERS' LOGOS

An old saying tells us that women’s work is never done. Yet, for too many women in the Arabworld, in some respects it never begins. Despite their multiple responsibilities as daughters,mothers, wives, and caregivers to family members old and young, women in the Middle East andNorth Africa have the world’s lowest rates of labor force participation.

Fortunately, as this path-breaking report makes clear, the landscape is starting to change. Womenbusiness owners in Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates are findingniches, cracking markets, and creating opportunities for themselves, their employees, and thecommunities they serve. The female entrepreneurs profiled in this report are the face of the Arabworld’s future – with high rates of education, widespread use of information and communicationtechnology, international openness, and an optimistic outlook. They remind our region, and theworld, of the productive value yearning to be tapped in our increasingly educated femalepopulation.

To unleash that potential, we have to address the varied barriers blocking Arab women’s path toeconomic activity. Many women surveyed express a desire for entrepreneurial training. Othersfeel constrained by the lack of access to formal capital. More than half believe that balancingwork and family is more challenging for women than for men. By providing detailed,comparative information on businesswomen’s contributions and challenges, this report helpshighlight the necessary steps to support and further women’s entrepreneurship – and, in theprocess, improve the MENA business environment as a whole.

In important respects, the study already is catalyzing results. The trailblazing collaborationbetween businesswomen’s organizations and research institutions in five different Arab countrieshas created networks that will serve and strengthen our region’s quest for women’sempowerment. I am especially pleased that a team of Jordanian graduate students helped lead theresearch effort. Their opportunity to get to know successful women business owners, and to hearfirst-hand the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, afforded the kind of active learning noclassroom can convey.

I am sure these young Jordanians came away from the experience not simply informed butinspired – as I hope you will be when you read this report on businesswomen in the region I callhome.

F O R E W O R D


I

Her Royal MajestyQueen Rania Al-Abdullah

F O R E W O R D


II

IFC FOREWORD

There is a growing recognition of the role thatwomen in business play in their countries’economies. The Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region is no exception to this trend.Female entrepreneurship in the region has beenincreasing and becoming more visible over thelast decade. Women-owned businesses are (1)contributing to economic growth and wealthcreation and (2) creating employmentopportunities for other women (and men as well).Moreover, economically active women representa potentially profitable market niche for thefinancial sector.

Yet, despite the apparent benefits of increased levels of women’s entrepreneurship in the region,women business owners report that they face a series of constraints when it comes to setting-upor expanding a business. Some of the concerns raised are similar to those faced by men. But thelack of data on women entrepreneurs has hindered both understanding and systematic analysis ofthe constraints that women face in the business world.

This IFC-supported research project and report, undertaken in close cooperation with localpartners, is a product of capacity building efforts that help fill the knowledge gap in understandingthe challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. The report is the result of a pioneering effort ofcollaboration between businesswomen’s associations and research institutions in five countries inthe region. By providing a voice to women’s needs for business skills development, better linksto business networks, and improved access to financial services, the associations involved in thisreport have provided an important first step in identifying key challenges.

Although the report is limited to five countries, it is hoped that it will serve as a catalyst tobusinesswomen’s associations in other countries to articulate and address the needs of womenbusiness owners. Businesswomen’s associations can play a critical role in developing successfulbusinesses. They not only provide women business owners and managers with businessdevelopment support, but also help establish platforms for advocacy, marketing and potentialbusiness expansion—services that women may not otherwise access.

This report comes at a time when stakeholders and partners are looking to further women’sentrepreneurship in the region. Many women entrepreneurs – some of whom are profiled in thereport – have kindly offered their time to respond to the country surveys. The purpose of thisanalysis is to help countries in the MENA region better understand the challenges faced bywomen and to promote an environment in which female as well as male entrepreneurs can thrive.This will not only benefit the businesswomen themselves, but will contribute to the well-being oftheir families and communities, and to their countries’ overall economic development.

EDWARD A. NASSIMVICE PRESIDENT FOR EUROPE,AFRICA, and MIDDLE EASTINTERNATIONAL FINANCECORPORATION

F O R E W O R D


III

GEM FOREWORD

The importance of women's entrepreneurship for economic growth is increasingly recognized in theMiddle East and North Africa (MENA). Entrepreneurship creates new jobs, essential in a region witha young population and high unemployment. With the lowest female labor force participation rates inthe world – and ironically women are often graduating from universities in higher numbers than theirmale counterparts - female entrepreneurship also provides a productive outlet for a well-educated andunderutilized talent pool.

This publication is a joint product of the IFC’s Private Enterprise Partnership for the Middle East andNorth Africa (PEP-MENA) facility and IFC’s Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (GEM) initiative thatpromotes women’s private sector participation. The IFC has been honored to partner with the inspiringwomen’s organizations in the region and thanks CAWTAR for its leadership role, and the womenentrepreneurs in Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates for their generousparticipation. It is to be hoped that this important effort to better understand the characteristics,contributions and challenges of women entrepreneurs in these countries will be the catalyst for furtherwork, and most importantly, for expanding women’s entrepreneurship in the region.

We wish to express our sincere thanks to the women entrepreneurs across the five countries who gavetheir time to share their views and thoughts for this publication.

AMANDA N. ELLISHEAD, GENDERENTREPRENEURSHIP MARKETS(GEM) INTERNATIONAL FINANCECORPORATION

CARMEN NIETHAMMERPROGRAM MANAGER, GENDERENTREPRENEURSHIP MARKETS (GEM)IFC PRIVATE ENTERPRISEPARTNERSHIP FOR THE MIDDLE EASTAND NORTH AFRICA (PEP-MENA)

F O R E W O R D


IV

CAWTAR FOREWORD

CAWTAR has long been interested in Arab women’sparticipation in the economic sphere: in 2001, it publishedits first Arab Women Development Report on“Globalization and Arab Women Economic Participation”.The vision was to tap on Arab Women as a nascent criticalsocial capital for economic growth in the region, given thedearth of gender sensitive information on the issue. Sincethen, CAWTAR has endeavored to further conductresearch in this area in order to reach out to women in theeconomic realm. So far, CAWTAR has contributed toproducing research on gender and trade, decision making,micro credit, poverty alleviation and informal economies.

There has been increased attention given to the topic of women’s entrepreneurship, asbusinesswomen face specific challenges to create and expand their businesses. In this perspective,and owing to the lack of sex-disaggregated data in the Arab region, the regional project implementedby CAWTAR and the IFC is innovative as it focuses on two fronts: (1) capacity building of theorganizations of all project partners (research centers, businesswomen associations and journalists),and (2) strengthening regional networking for key stakeholders to efficiently communicate andadvocate for women’s entrepreneurship as an engine crucial to national and regional economicgrowth. CAWTAR has been particularly keen to further the professionalism of the Arab Network forGender and Development (@NGED) media network – the secretariat of which is housed inCAWTAR. To this end, the @NGED journalists involved have contributed, through the “voices”collected, to improve media information sharing and to sensitize the public to the important issue ofwomen’s entrepreneurship in the Arab region. The vision adopted was to promote a positive imageof women’s entrepreneurship in the media, and the support of and partnership with the @NGEDjournalists was critical in this task. This regional report has been published to allow a betterunderstanding of women entrepreneurs and their needs across the five Arab countries, and to identifystrategic solutions to address their challenges toward ensuring their business success.

Under the CAWTAR-IFC regional project, CAWTAR played the role of an umbrella organization,firstly to oversee the implementation of the five national case studies and the regional report on Arabwomen entrepreneurs, and secondly, to capitalize on its research network and strategic partnershipsto foster dialogue regarding the findings of these studies. It is hoped that this project will raise theawareness of other potential partners and stakeholders on the necessity to conduct further researchin the field of women’s entrepreneurship to bridge the data and knowledge gap on issues not coveredby this survey.

The Arab region should not be considered as a homogeneous bloc, and survey findings also revealedsignificant differences between the five countries covered by this project. Providing specific servicesand capacity building to women to better meet their needs and to cope with the problems theyencounter in their daily lives is a major milestone of this regional project. We look forward to furtherraising the awareness of key stakeholders and policy makers to the important issue of women’sentrepreneurship, with possible replication of such capacity building and research initiative acrossother countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

DR. SOUKEINA BOURAOUI EXECUTIVE DIRECTORTHE CENTER OF ARAB WOMENFOR TRAINING AND RESEARCH

Foreword(s) ..........................................................................................................................................i

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................1

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations ..............................................................................................3

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 6Characteristics of Women Entrepreneurs and Their Firms............................................................... 7Contributions to Economic Development ........................................................................................ 9Challenges Faced by Women Entrepreneurs .................................................................................. 11Preliminary Recommendations ......................................................................................................13

The Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges of Women Business Owners in Five MENACountries............................................................................................................................................ 15

Business Optimism and Outlook.....................................................................................................15Important Business Concerns..........................................................................................................17Access to and Use of Financing.......................................................................................................19International Trade Activities .........................................................................................................23Use of Technology ..........................................................................................................................23Business Training and Mentoring....................................................................................................24Entrepreneurship Policy Recommendations...................................................................................28Balancing Business and Social Roles..............................................................................................30Business and Personal Characteristics.............................................................................................31

Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................................................................36For Public Policy Makers..............................................................................................................36For Women’s Associations and Entrepreneurial Support Organisations........................................ 36For Financial Institutions ..............................................................................................................37

Summary of Study Methodologies ................................................................................................ 38

Executive Country Reports ............................................................................................................. 40Bahrain .............................................................................................................................................. 40

I. Introduction............................................................................................................................. 40II. Methodology....................................................................................................................... 40III. Access to and Use of Financing.......................................................................................... 40IV. Economic Outlook, Future Plans and Goals......................................................................... 40V. International Trade Activities................................................................................................ 41VI. Use of Technology.............................................................................................................41VII. Access to Information, Education and Training.......................................................................41VIII.Social Roles....................................................................................................................41IX. Business and Personal Characteristics of Women Business Owners....................................... 41X. Conclusions and Recommendations....................................................................................... 42

Table of Contents


1

Jordan.................................................................................................................................................43

I. Introduction and Methodology ....................................................................................... 43

II. Access to and Use of Financing ............................................................................................. 43

III. Economic Outlook, Future Plans and Goals ............................................................................43

IV. International Trade Activities ..................................................................................................44

V. Use of Technology ..................................................................................................................44

VI. Procedures to Help Small Businesses ......................................................................................44

VII. Social Roles .............................................................................................................................44

VIII.Business and Personal Characteristics of Women Business Owners.................................45

IX. Recommendations ...................................................................................................................45

Lebanon .............................................................................................................................................46

I. Introduction .............................................................................................................................46

II. Business sectors and businesswomen’s outlook over economic growth .................................46

III. Technology ..............................................................................................................................47

IV. Financial Sources ....................................................................................................................47

V. Entrance into new markets (Public relations, training sessions, and use of technology).......47

VI. Challenges and their impact on businesswomen .....................................................................47

VII. Business Size ...........................................................................................................................47

Tunisia ................................................................................................................................................49

I. Introduction and Methodology ................................................................................................49

II. Findings ...................................................................................................................................49

III. Conclusions and Recommendations .......................................................................................53

United Arab Emirates .......................................................................................................................54

I. Introduction and Methodology ...............................................................................................54

II. Business Characteristics ..........................................................................................................54

III. Personal Characteristics of the Women Business Owners .......................................................54

IV. International Trade Activities ........................................................................................54

V. Use of Technology ..................................................................................................................54

VI. Access to and Use of Financing ............................................................................................55

VII. Economic Outlook, Future Plans and Goals ........................................................................55

VIII.Access to Advice and Training ..........................................................................................57

IX. Social Roles .............................................................................................................................57

X. Conclusions and Recommendations .......................................................................................58

Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................................59

Table of Contents


2

Table of Contents


3

Survey Instrument and Question Results ....................................................................................60

Compendium of Reference Reports and Organizations .............................................................79

Reports Concerning Women’s Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region.

Organizations Focused on Women’s Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations


4

AED

APEC

BBS

BCCI

BCRS

BHD

CAWTAR

CEPEX

CJD

CNFCE

DBWC

DWC

FAMEX

GCC

GDP

ICT

IFC

IFC-GEM

JFBPW

JOD

LAN

LBP

LBWA

MADMA

MENA

NGO

SME(s)

SPSS

TND

UAE

UNDP

UNFT

UNIDO

UNIFEM

USD

WTO

United Arab Emirates Dirham

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

Bahrain Businesswomen Society

Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Bahrain Center for Research and Studies

Bahraini Dinar

Center of Arab Women for Training and Research

Center for the Promotion of Exports (Tunisia)

Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants d’Entreprise (Tunisia)

Chambre Nationale des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprise (National Chamber of Women Business Owners) (Tunisia)

Dubai Business Women’s Council

Dubai Women’s College

Fonds d’Accès aux Marchés d’Exportation (Tunisia)

Gulf Cooperation Council (comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates)

Gross Domestic Product

Information and Communications Technologies

International Finance Corporation

International Finance Corporation’s Gender Entrepreneurship Markets

Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women

Jordanian Dinar

Local Area Network

Lebanese Pound

Lebanese Business Women Association

Centre for Development Studies and Projects

Middle East and North Africa

Non-Governmental Organization

Small and Medium Enterprise(s)

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Tunisian Dinar

United Arab Emirates

United Nations Development Programme

Union Nationale de la Femme Tunisienne (Tunisia)

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

United Nations Development Fund for Women

United States Dollar

World Trade Organization

Introduction


5

In every region of the world, more and morewomen are seeking economic opportunity andself-determination through enterprise creation.

The growth of women’s entrepreneurship isfrequently cited on an anecdotal basis, and isincreasingly covered and commented upon in thebusiness media(1). By most accounts, looking at avariety of surveys and statistical sources, itappears that between one-quarter and one-third ofthe formal sector businesses worldwide areowned and operated by women; the share ofinformal enterprises owned by women is evengreater(2).

Along with increased media attention on thegrowth of women-owned firms has come amarked increase in efforts to support the growthof women business owners and their enterprisesby national public policy makers, multi-lateralorganizations, and non-governmentalentrepreneurial support organizations. And yet,despite this increased activity, there is a markedlack of quantitative information on the numberand growth of women-owned enterprises withwhich to inform policy making. This is coupledwith a growing need for qualitative survey-basedattitudinal information capturing the self-expressed viewpoints, concerns, challenges andneeds of women business owners. It is known thatin the region - and in the countries of study inparticular - women enjoy high levels of formaleducation, yet their participation in the labor forceis still low, and not much is known about womenwho own and operate their own enterprises(3).

This project report aims to provide relevant andfocused information on the characteristics,contributions and challenges of women businessowners in five Middle East and North African(MENA) countries: Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon,Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. Thesecountries were chosen to reflect various areas ofthe region, and because important organizationsin each country – women’s business associations,research institutes and the media – were interestedin partnering with each other, the InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC) and the Center of Arab

Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) inthis important collaboration. While much can belearned from the results of the surveys shared inthis report, the report team realizes that this initialeffort at increasing understanding of womenbusiness owners is limited by the lack of theability to compare findings with men businessowners and the absence of a broader populationframework for study. It is therefore not a true“gender analysis.” This report, however, is a veryuseful by-product of a larger regional capacity-building initiative that uses IFC’s GenderEntrepreneurship Markets (GEM) surveymethodology to promote the ability of bothbusinesswomen’s associations and researchcenters to better serve the needs of womenbusiness owners, and to better advocate for theirinterests. It is expected that its release willencourage further, more detailed study.

A distinguished group of researchers andwomen’s business association leaders(4) met inTunisia to plan and launch this landmark effort,and corresponded throughout the project tocompare strategies, findings, and challenges. Atthe planning meeting in the spring of 2006, thefollowing specific goals were agreed upon:

Uncover basic demographic information aboutwomen business owners and their enterprisesin the five countries,Investigate the key issues facing them,especially barriers to growth, educational andtraining needs, and access to financing,Highlight both similarities and interestingdifferences among countries,Put the findings into a public policy context,with implications for action,Contribute to the development of relationshipsand capacity-building of the organizationspartnering on the project,Empower the women’s business sector in eachcountry by increasing public awareness andproviding relevant information, andCreate a momentum for positive change,including sparking interest in more detailedgendered research.

1- See especially “A guide to womenomics,” The Economist, April 15-21, 2006. 2- See, in particular, United Nations, The World’s Women, 2000. Chapter 5: Work.3- According to UN statistics, over half of tertiary education enrollment in the 5 countries in this study are women (51% Jordan, 54% Lebanon, 55%Tunisia, 62% Bahrain, 66% UAE), yet under one-quarter of the labourlabor force is women (15% Jordan, 22% Bahrain, 24% Tunisia, data not availablefor Lebanon nor UAE).4- See the Acknowledgments section for a listing of all project partners. See also the Methodology section for a complete description of the process ofdata collection and analysis.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Introduction


6

This important effort, in which five differentcountries undertook very similar surveys amongcomparable formal-sector women business ownerpopulations in a concurrent period of time,provides new detailed information on the outlookof women business owners in each country. Itshowcases their sentiments about the growth anddevelopment of their firms, the issue challengesthey are facing, and their views about what it islike being a woman business owner in theircountry. The study does not, however, purport torepresent the views of all women entrepreneurs ineach country, nor is there an ability – at this stage– of comparing the responses of women businessowners to those of their male counterparts.

A unique value of this project, however, is theability to compare the findings across countries.While women business owners in these countriesshare many of the same sentiments andcharacteristics, there are interesting differencesamong them as well.

The first main section of this report does just that– looks at the five surveys together, comparingand contrasting results, drawing conclusions, andmaking recommendations for consideration bypolicy makers, corporate and institutional leaders,and members of the women’s businesscommunity.

Following the main body of this report areexecutive reports for each of the five countries,prepared by the country study teams. Next, anAcknowledgements section highlights all of theorganizations and people involved in this study. Asection containing the survey instrument used byeach team, and the top-line results for everyquestion asked, follows. The report concludes witha list of reference publications of interest, and a listof links to organizations supporting women’senterprise development in the five countries.

Included in this report as well are brief profiles ofwomen business owners, which add richness andqualitative, first-person stories to the quantitativenature of the survey data. These profiles wereprepared from a number of personal interviewsconducted during the course of the project.

It is hoped that this effort, and especially theregional and country-specific analyses containedherein, will spur increased interest in women’sentrepreneurship throughout the region, be ofvalue to those interested in women’s enterprisedevelopment around the world, and spark moredetailed research – including comparisonsbetween women and men – and additionalcollaborative efforts of this type in these and othercountries.

This project would not have succeeded withoutthe passion and commitment of a large number ofindividuals and institutions, who are listed in theAcknowledgements section toward the end of thisreport. The IFC and CAWTAR would like tosincerely thank them for their involvement in thisimportant and unique effort.


7

Executive Summary

CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS AND THEIR FIRMS: A REGIONAL SUMMARY

BUSINESS PROFILE

Women business owners surveyed in MENA are well ahead of their counterparts in Western Europe and North Americawith respect to the size of their firms and many report substantial levels of revenue(6).

This publication provides policy makers, financial institutions and entrepreneurial support organizations with new insightinto the attitudes, challenges and needs of women business owners and their firms in five MENA countries: Bahrain,Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. Through surveys(5) of 1,228 women, the report identifies:

Key characteristics of women-owned business enterprises in these five countries;Their contribution to economic development and job creation;The challenges women face in both managing and growing their businesses; and Preliminary recommendations for government and private sector action to expand women’s entrepreneurship in the region.

1. Revenue levels:

When compared on a USD (United States Dollar) equivalent basis, between 6% (Jordan) and 33% (UAE) of surveyedenterprises are generating more than $100,000 per annum – comparing favorably to the 13% share found among women-owned firms in the United States.

2. Ownership structure:

A majority of the women surveyed in Bahrain and Tunisia are sole owners of their firms, at 59% and 55% respectively.This compares with 48% sole owners in Jordan and the UAE, and 41% in Lebanon.

3. Job creation:

Women are creating employment. In the five countries (graph 1), Tunisian women-owned firms are the largest,employing 19.3 workers per firm on average, while women-owned firms in Jordan are smallest, with an average of sixemployees(7).

The business characteristics and personal backgrounds of the women business owners surveyed are similar to those in otherregions of the world. MENA women entrepreneurs are most likely to own firms in the service sector, in retail trade, or in non-durable manufacturing. The majority are well educated, married, and have children.

5- Surveys in each country covered largely the same issues and topics, using methodology from the IFC’s Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (GEM) program. They were conducted between May and October 2006 via personal interview by local partners in each country.6- In Bahrain, 10% of firms surveyed generate more than $100,000 per annum, as do 6% in Jordan, 6% in Lebanon, 18% in Tunisia, and 33% in the UAE. US revenue figures arefrom U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 Economic Census of Women-Owned Firms:http://www.census.gov/csd/sbo/women2002.htm.7- In Lebanon, the survey asked only if the firms had employees in addition to the owner – it did not specify how many employees. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the women-ownedfirms surveyed in Lebanon did have employees in addition to the owner.

■

■

■

13.3

6

19.3

13.9

1.8 1.5

8.5

3.5

0

5

10

15

20

25

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon* Tunisia UAE

Av

era

ge

Nu

mb

er

of

Em

plo

ye

es

Full-timePart-time

* In Lebanon, employment asked as a yes/no question. 56% had full-time employees, 35% had part-time employees.

graph 1: Average Employment of Women-Owned Firms Surveyed

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Executive Summary


8

PERSONAL PROFILE

1. Educational background:

The women business owners surveyed are very well educated, as is typically found in surveys among womenentrepreneurs, and as regional educational statistics would indicate.

Fully 91% of the women business owners surveyed in Bahrain have some level of post-secondary education, as do 79% inTunisia and the UAE, 76% in Jordan, and 40% in Lebanon.

2. Age profile:

Most women business owners in the MENA region are between 35 and 54 years of age, consistent with worldwide trends.

3. Marital status:

The majority of women business owners surveyed are married: 72% in Tunisia, 65% in Bahrain and the UAE,61% in Jordan, and 56% in Lebanon.

Most of the women also have children. In Jordan they have the most children, at 3.2 on average, while in the UAE womenbusiness owners have the fewest children, averaging 1.4. The women surveyed in Bahrain have an average of 2.3 children, inLebanon 1.9, and in Tunisia 1.8.

4. Gender issues:

Work/family balance is identified as the most challenging of 11 issue areas tested. Approximately half of the women surveyedin all countries (except Bahrain) report that balancing work and family is more challenging for them than it is for men businessowners. At the other end of the list, the women surveyed do feel that women have a greater advantage than men when managingfemale employees. Overall however, the women business owners surveyed see their gender as a net positive rather than animpediment to their business.

table 1: The Number of Hours Businesswomen Spend Operating their Enterprises

■

■

■

40+ hrs/wk

60+ hrs/wk

Bahrain

73

25

Jordan

51

9

Lebanon

70

17

Tunisia

60

21

UAE

62

24

4. Experience:

Most survey participants own established businesses and many have extensive years of experience. Women in Lebanonand Bahrain are the most seasoned business owners of the group. On average, the women in Lebanon have owned theirbusinesses for 10.6 years, in Bahrain for 10.2, in Tunisia for 8.6, in Jordan for 6.1, and in the UAE for 5.9 years.

5. Management time:

Women business owners are actively involved in managing their enterprises (table 1). Close to two-thirds spend at least40 hours per week operating their businesses and over one in five spends 60 or more hours.

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Executive Summary


9

Many more businesswomen plan toexpand their businesses rather thanmaintaining current levels ofoperations (graph 3).

The most ambitious women arethose in the UAE, where 81% planto expand their businessescompared to just 10% who wish tomaintain the current level ofoperations.

Even in Lebanon, which hasrecently experienced conflict andwhere women were surveyedduring trying times, the outlook isstill very optimistic: 49% areplanning to grow, while 45% aretaking a “wait and see” approach.

■

■

69

58

66

55

67

5861

47

88 87

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Business Growth National Economy

Over Next Two Years

Perc

ent O

ptim

istic Bahrain

JordanLebanonTunisiaUAE

58

40

58

23

4945

54

37

81

10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Goal: business expansion Goal: maintain current size

Over Next two Years

Per

cent

BahrainJordanLebanonTunisiaUAE

graph 2: Women Optimistic about their Business and Economic Growth

graph 3: Most Women Plan to Expand their Businesses

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

POISED FOR GROWTH

The women business owners surveyed are largely optimistic and poised for growth, but in need of some direction andassistance to achieve their goals (graph 2). Between 61% and 88% of survey participants expressed optimism regarding theirown enterprises while 47% to 87% expressed optimism about their national economic prospects.

Executive Summary


10

PROMOTING ICT USE

Women business owners in all five countries use information and communication technology (ICT) for their businessesat rates well above the per capita average worldwide (graph 5).

Mobile phone usage is nearly ubiquitous, ranging from 79% to 93%. A majority of women surveyed are using computersin their businesses, ranging from just over half in Tunisia, Jordan and Bahrain, to more than 90% in the UAE.

Internet use is even higher – given improved accessibility through internet cafes and mobile phones – and ranges from60% in Tunisia to 99% in the UAE. A majority of women business owners in the UAE also have websites for theirbusinesses, at 64%; only 17% thus far have websites in Tunisia.

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64

99

94

79

17

58

54

85

19

85

70

27

61

55

91

32

90

58

89

17

14

32

93

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Web Site

Internet

Computer(s)

Mobile Phone

Percent Using for Business

Global per capita avg.BahrainJordanLebanonTunisiaUAE

graph 5: Women are Using ICT in Business Operations

TRADING INTERNATIONALLY

Between one-quarter and one-half of women surveyed (graph 4) are trading internationally.

Nearly half of women business owners in the UAE are engaged in international trade activities: 17% are importing goodsand services, 8% are exporting, and 21% are doing both. Jordanian women were the least likely to be tradinginternationally, at 22%.

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Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE

Import/Export/BothImport onlyExport only

graph 4: Women are Engaging in International Trade

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t In

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ed i

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rnat

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al T

rad

e

■

Executive Summary


11

1. Entrepreneurial Training:

Most women business owners are interested in receiving external training and support services, believing it would behelpful in managing the growth of their enterprises (graph 6). Especially desired is more information on how to accessnew markets at home and abroad and how to use technology to grow a business.

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

Lear

ning

abou

t new

mkt

s

Lear

ning

abou

tte

chno

logy

Trip

s to

othe

rco

untri

es

Busin

ess

mgm

nttra

inin

g

Fina

ncia

lm

gmnt

train

ing

Mee

t w/

othe

rW

BOs

Trai

ning

on

advo

cacy

Aver

age

Rat

ing

(1-5

sca

le)


Access to technology (4.12)

Access to new markets (3.63)

Access to capital (4.22)

High cost of public services (4.08)


3rd most

important

issue

Learning financial manage-ment skills (4.20)




Low efficiency/Productivity (3.67)

2nd most

important

issue

High cost of rent (4.45)

Finding/ keeping good employees (3.92)



Finding/keeping good employees (3.86)

Most

important

business

issue

UAETunisiaLebanonJordanBahrain

Numbers are averages on a 1-5 scale, with 1=not at all important, 5=extremely important.

Women business owners in different countries cite similar challenges in doing business, but with different rankings that varydepending on their specific business environments (table 2). Among the top challenges faced by the majority of womensurveyed are:

(1) learning financial management skills; (2) finding and keeping good employees; (3) access to capital and; (4) the high cost of public services.

Other key challenges, ranked amongst the top five in at least three countries, were the high cost of labor, the desire for accessto general business training and support and the importance of gaining access to new markets for their products or services.

CHALLENGES FACED BY WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

graph 6: Entrepreneurial Training Would Be Helpful

table 2: Top Three Business Concerns Differ Among Countries

Executive Summary


12

With limited access to formal finance, women are financing their businesses mostly through personal sources such assavings, friends and family, and by reinvesting business earnings (graph 8).

These sources of finance are the top sources being utilized by women in each country during the past 12 months.

27

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21

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2926

8

3944

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30

40

50

60

Business earnings Private sources (savings, family,friends)

Types of Financing Used in Past Year

Perc

ent


graph 8: Business Earnings, Private Sources Top Sources of Financing

2. Access to Capital:

A smaller proportion of women in MENA use formal sources of credit for their businesses compared to other regions ofthe world (graph 7).

Between 50% and 75% of the women surveyed have sought external financing for their businesses at some time duringthe previous 12 months. Most have not received any financing from a formal financial institution.

Tunisia has the highest number of women business owners having bank credit, at 47%, with Jordan at 34%, the UAE at32%, Bahrain at 22%, and Lebanon at just 17%.

■

■

32

62

47

76

17

51

34

59

22

56

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80


graph 7: Women are Seeking Financing, But Lack Bank Credit

Sought external financing in past

12 months

Currently havebank credit

Percent

Executive Summary


13

Drawing from the opinions of the women business owners participating in this project, several recommendations canalso be made to entrepreneurial support organizations - such as women’s associations and financial institutions. Manyof these recommendations focus on general barriers to business growth. It would be especially fruitful for futureresearch to assess any potential gender differences in both the nature and the relative importance of these barriers. Here,then, is a brief summary of potential recommendations:

Specifically asked about the recommendations they would make to policy makers, the women surveyed listed the followingissues (table 3) among their top priority picks:

Change employment laws (35%)

Reduce time to register/ start a business (34%)


Promote business ownership in general (37%)

Establish gov’t SME purchasing goals (35%)/Change employment laws (35%)

3rd policy

recommen-

dation

Reduce business registration cost (37%)

Provide basic skills training to SMEs (36%)

Special SME loan funds, guarantees (45%)



2nd policy

recommen-

dation






Top policy

recommen-

dation


Numbers are percent response asking for top three policy recommendations.

During the course of the survey, women business owners were asked not only about their characteristics, contributions andchallenges, but what recommendations they would make to improve the environment for themselves and their fellow womenbusiness owners. And, while the survey did not include men, they are known to face many similar constraints. Women’sadded voices can make a difference in improving the overall business environment, and following are some preliminaryrecommendations in that regard.

PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS

table 3: SME Lending and Reducing Start-up, Employment Barriers are Top Policy Picks

Executive Summary


14

I. POLICY MAKERS

■ Increase flexibility of employment laws and regulations for more efficient hiring and replacement of workers.

■ Consider policies that would encourage greater access to capital for all SMEs, especially women.

■ Address the issue of cost and time taken to register a business.

■ Undertake gender-focused research: research that can compare and contrast the characteristics, contributions and challenges of women and men business owners.

■ Ensure women’s voices are heard in policy formulation.

II. FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

■ Consider the growing market that women-owned enterprises provide and explore their market potential.

■ Utilize internal research resources to evaluate existing (and potential) financial portfolio performance by gender.

■ Reach potential women clients through closer networking with businesswomen’s associations.

III. WOMEN BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

■ Offer financial management training for members.

■ Provide general business management and leadership skill-building focused on post-start-up businesses.

■ Provide information and training on new technologies for business development.

■ Strengthen external support networks for businesswomen.


In an innovative effort, businesswomen’sassociations, research institutes, andjournalists – with the assistance and

collaboration of IFC and CAWTAR – undertookto gather the opinions, concerns andrecommendations of women business owners infive MENA countries (Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon,Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates). Thesewomen business owners were interviewed duringthe same time frame, covering largely the sameissues and topics (8). They were queried on themost important issues facing their businesses,what educational and networking opportunitiesthey thought would be the most helpful to them ingrowing their firms, the use of capital and ICT intheir enterprises, the extent to which they areengaged in international trade, their views on howbeing a woman business owner has impacted theirfirms, and their recommendations for howgovernments and other institutions might assistthem and their fellow women business owners togrow their businesses. The women were alsoasked to provide basic background informationabout their firms (employment and revenue size,industry and location) and about themselves (age,education, marital status), as basic backgroundinformation about women business owners andtheir enterprises is still not widely known in theregion.

There were far more similarities than differencesacross the five countries in the study, but somevery significant differences as well – in outlook,with respect to the level of importance of certainbusiness issues, level of involvement ininternational trade, and use of technology.Overall, there is much to learn about womenbusiness owners in the region in this analysis –and much which connects the needs and concernsof these women to their fellow women businessowners in other parts of the world.

In the following section of this report, the findingsin these areas will be analyzed regionally –comparing the similarities and differences amongthe five countries. Executive reports preparedwithin each country by the project study teams are

shared later in this report. This project report is aby-product of a larger regional capacity-buildinginitiative that uses GEM survey methodology topromote the ability of both women's businessassociations and research centers to better servethe needs of women business owners and to betteradvocate for their interests. All of the projectpartners expect that this effort will increaseinterest in women’s entrepreneurship in the regionand prompt additional research to inform policesand capacity building for women’sentrepreneurship.

Business Optimism and Outlook

The phrase that best sums up the general outlookand view toward the future of the women businessowners surveyed in this project is definitely“largely optimistic, poised for growth, but in needof some direction and assistance to help themachieve their goals.” In other words, the womenbusiness owners surveyed in this study are quitepositive about current trends in their businessesand are planning for future growth, but recognizethat they will not achieve those goals withoutsome degree of support and intervention frompolicy makers and business support organizations.

Two important questions that often measuregeneral business sentiments are questions aboutbusiness optimism and an evaluation of nationaleconomic trends. Typically, business owners arelargely optimistic about the prospects for theirenterprises looking forward over the next two-year period (barring any recognition of industryor leadership issues which may contravenegrowth), and are usually more optimistic abouttheir own firms’ growth than their evaluation oftheir own national economy’s growth in theimpending two-year period. This is the case ineach of the five countries in this regional study.

When asked about their level of optimismconcerning their own business prospects over thenext two years, as well as their view about theprospects for economic growth in their country asa whole during that same period (graph 1),

15

The Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges ofWomen Business Owners in Five MENA Countries

8- A survey instrument that was used in an IFC-MPDF-sponsored study in Vietnam was used as the starting point for this collaborative project. The finalquestionnaire also benefited from the IFC GEM questionnaire used in to conduct market analysis in Yemen. Country teams were given the discretion toadd additional questions and adapt others to local contexts. See the Methodology section for additional information.

When asked to describe their primarybusiness goal over the next two years(graph 2) – maintaining at currentlevels, growing, or selling/closing theirfirm – most women business ownerssurveyed are focusing on growth. Sixoptions were provided to respondents:“to maintain my business as a part-timeventure to supplement householdincome,” “to maintain my full-timebusiness at its present size and level ofactivity,” “to grow my business from apart-time venture to a full-timebusiness,” “to expand my full-timebusiness by increasing revenues and/oremployment,” “to expand my full-timebusiness by expanding into newmarkets”, or “to sell or close mybusiness.” When the three growth-oriented responses are combined, fully81% of women business owners in theUAE plan to expand their businessoperations compared to just 10% whowish to maintain the status quo.Jordanian women business owners arealso more growth-focused: 58% plan toexpand compared to 23% who want tomaintain their current size. In Bahrain,58% wish to expand compared to 40%who are planning to maintain currentoperations. A 54% majority of Tunisianwomen business owners are planningto grow, compared to 37% who willmaintain current levels. In Lebanon,the women business owners are moreevenly divided, with 49% planning togrow and 45% taking a more “wait andsee” approach.

Several aspects of these findingsdeserve comment. First, throughout thesurvey, women business owners in theUAE are seen to be the most optimistic,growth-focused, and generally exhibitthe most ‘dynamic’ spirit.

The Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges of Women Business Owners in Five MENA Countries


16

between 61% and 88% of survey participantsexpressed optimism regarding their own enterprises,while 47% to 87% expressed optimism about theirnational economic prospects.

Specifically, an 88% majority of women businessowners in the UAE are very or somewhat optimisticabout their business outlook for growth over the nexttwo years, followed by 69% of women businessowners surveyed in Bahrain, 67% in Lebanon, 66%in Jordan, and 61% in Tunisia.

In comparison, when asked about their level ofoptimism concerning their national economy overthe next two years, 87% of UAE women businessowners remain optimistic. A lesser 58% of womenbusiness owners in both Bahrain and Lebanon areoptimistic, followed by 55% of women surveyed inJordan and 47% in Tunisia.

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graph 1: Women Optimistic about their Business and Economic Growth

graph 2: Most Women Plan to Expand Their Businesses


Secondly, Tunisian women business owners are themost moderate in their responses on severaldimensions – not exhibiting extremes in theiropinions or attitudes. Thirdly, it bears comment thatthe survey interview period (May to October2006)(9) coincided with very trying times inLebanon – civil unrest, an Israeli incursion, and atemporary evacuation of Beirut during bombing. Infact, during this time – when interviewing for thesurvey was especially difficult – qualitativeinterviews and a short video documentary wereproduced. The final survey findings show that,despite being interviewed during those tryingcircumstances, Lebanese women business ownersremain largely optimistic and focused on the future.

Important Business Concerns

While this research project shows, in large part,many similarities among the women businessowners interviewed in these five distinct countries,there are also some very unique differences betweenthem with respect to the environments in which theyare conducting business. This shows up moststrongly in their level of concern with a series oftypically important business issues.

Early in the survey, the women business ownerswere asked how important a series of issues(10) wereto their business, rated on a 1 to 5 scale from ‘not atall important’ to ‘extremely important’ (table 1).

17


“The tourism industry in Jordanis poor and I wanted to provethat women are capable ofgrowing a business in thissector.”

Buthaina Rawashdeh launched her business, AlButol for Tourism & Hotels Services, in 2006. Shecurrently employs 3 men and 2 women. Al Butolprovides a variety of travel and tourism services,ranging from organizing group tours, undertakingvisa applications, hiring transportation services,and providing hotel and other services to businesstravelers. She is also engaged in the export andimport of Jordanian products.

Buthaina is active in the business community; she isa member of several organizations such as theJordan Forum for Business & Professional Women,the Chamber of Commerce, the Orient HouseWomen Co-operation and the Human RightsAssociation. She was recently awarded the 7th Expoof Jordanian Olives Certificate of Appreciation, butstill has not had the opportunity to participate inother national or international events.

She is active in supporting women, both in herbusiness and in society. “I encourage women to

work by hiring them for packing and promotingJordanian natural herb products. I also establishedthe first political party for Jordanian women. Thisproject was very challenging as I had to prove mystrength to carry it out efficiently as a woman; whathelped me most in this sense was my skill ofpersuasion.”

Buthaina participated in a recent meeting withwomen facing economic problems, in which theydiscussed and shared their economic challenges.“From that time I was looking for solutions to helpsolve the problem of female unemployment and atthe same time get income.”

From her own entrepreneurial experience, sheadvises women to rely on themselves and to focuson achieving their business goals. She alsoendeavours to stay up to date in using technology inher business in order to ensure its sustainability.When Buthaina started her business, she did nothave access to external financing sources anddepended on her own savings to launch herbusiness. Among other difficulties she met werebusiness licensing and her own doubts about herability to succeed.

As an entrepreneur and mother, she says,“I organizemy day so as to be able to look after my kids in theafternoon, since they are not yet old enough to beself-reliant. I also dedicate my weekends for myfamily.”

Information provided by Rana Al Akhal, JordanInterview prepared by Hela Gharbi, CAWTAR

Ms. Buthaina Rawashdeh,Jordan

Al Butol, tourism services

9- See the Methodology section later in this report for more detailed information on the conduct of the surveys.10- 13 issues were asked in all 5 countries, a 14th in 4 of 5 countries. Women in the UAE were also asked a question on the importance of the cost of rent.

The desire to learn financial management skillswas ranked among the top three issues in 4 of 5countries, ranking 2nd in Jordan, Lebanon andthe UAE, 3rd in Bahrain, and 8th in Tunisia.Finding and keeping good employees wasamong the top three issues in the majority of 5countries: gaining 1st place in Bahrain andTunisia, 2nd in the UAE, 8th in Jordan, and 10thin Lebanon.Access to capital was ranked as the mostimportant business issue in Jordan and 3rdimportant issue in Lebanon. In Bahrain, the issueranked 8th while for both UAE and Tunisia itranked 11th.The high cost of public services was also amongthe top three issues in most countries, ranking 1stin Lebanon, 2nd in Tunisia, 3rd an Jordan, 7th inBahrain, and 9th in the UAE.The high cost of labor found its way into the topfive in most of the countries, ranking 4th inBahrain, 5th in Jordan and Lebanon, 6th inTunisia, and 7th in the UAE.The desire for access to general business trainingand technical assistance was ranked in the topfive in 3 of 5 countries, ranking 4th in Jordan, 5thin Bahrain and Tunisia, 6th in the UAE, and 9thin Lebanon.

The importance of gaining access to newmarkets for their products or services was ratedamong the top five issues in most countries: 3rdin Bahrain and Tunisia, 4th in the UAE, 7th inLebanon, and 11th in Jordan.

These findings haveimplications both for policymakers and service providers.First, there are obviously somebusiness infrastructure costs –electricity, telephones, and otherutilities – that are impeding thegrowth of women-owned andother enterprises. Moderatingthese business costs wouldcertainly yield positive returns.Secondly, there is a clear needfor additional entrepreneurialeducation and training, both ongeneral management issues, and

especially in the areas of employee managementand financial skill-building. Thirdly, some targetedassistance for women seeking expanded businessopportunities in new markets (be they with largerbusinesses, governments domestically or in foreignmarkets) is an area of keen interest for many of thewomen business owners surveyed, and could beoffered either by government agencies or non-governmental entrepreneurial supportorganizations.

At the other end of the list were some issues thatwere consistently rated at or near the bottom interms of importance in nearly all countries:

Business payoffs/bribes: rated 14th of 14 issuesin Lebanon, 12th in Tunisia and the UAE, and10th in Bahrain and Jordan.Government corruption was similarly not animportant business issue, except in Lebanon,where it ranked 4th. Elsewhere, it ranked 13th inTunisia, 11th in the UAE, and 8th in Bahrain.Competition from other countries was only seenas an important business issue by womenbusiness owners in Tunisia, where it was ranked4th. Elsewhere, it ranked 13th in the UAE, 12thin Jordan, and 11th in Bahrain and Lebanon.


18

Access to technology (4.12)





3rd most

important

issue





Low efficiency/Productivity (3.67)

2nd most

important

issue

High cost of rent (4.45)

Finding/ keeping good employees (3.92)



Finding/keeping good employees (3.86)

Most

important

business

issue


Numbers are averages on a 1-5 scale, with 1=not at all important, 5=extremely important.


table 1: Top Three Business Concerns Differ Among Countries

Interestingly, in no instance was any issue amongthe top three, or even the top five, in all fivecountries. However, there were some issues thatwere at or near the top in nearly all countries:

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•


Access to property or land was in themid to low range as a business issue inall five countries, ranking 6th inimportance in Jordan, 8th in the UAE,9th in Bahrain, 11th in Tunisia, and 13thin Lebanon.

The table on the previous page highlightsthe top three issues in each of the fivecountries. Of some note is the fact thatnot all five countries mention access tocapital as a key concern. In these fiveMENA countries, only the women inJordan (1st) and Lebanon (3rd) rate itamong their top three issues. It rates 6thin Bahrain and just 10th in importance inTunisia and the UAE, as is shown in thefollowing section. In similar surveys inother parts of the world, this issue isconsistently at or near the top in the list ofimportant business concerns. Thedifference in MENA is due in somemeasure to a level of discouragement inseeking financing. The women surveyedreport having sought but been unable toobtain business credit.

Access to and Use of Financing

The women business owners surveyedare financing the growth of theirbusinesses, but that growth is likely beinghindered by their current financingpractices. Very few of the womensurveyed, a much lower share than isfound in other regions of the world, areutilizing formal bank credit (graph 3).Instead, they are financing the growth oftheir businesses by relying uponpersonal savings, investment fromprivate sources such as family andfriends, and the reinvestment of businessearnings (graph 4).

This is not uncommon in the region. Countrygender briefs conducted in the region by the IFChave pointed out that many banks in the region donot generally serve the financing needs of smalland medium enterprises.(11) These reports pointout that the situation may be exacerbated forwomen-owned SMEs, due to lower availability ofcollaterisable assets, gender bias among lendinginstitutions, and a lower level of financialmanagement education among womenentrepreneurs.

19


11- See the Compendium of Reference Reports section for a listing of these reports

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Percent


g , p

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Business earnings Private sources (savings, family,friends)

Types of Financing Used in Past Year

Perc

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graph 3: Women are Seeking Financing, But Lack Bank Credit

graph 4: Business Earnings, Private Sources Top Sources of Financing

Sought external financing in past

12 months

Currently havebank credit

•

Certainly the IFC country assessments in theregion are borne out in the five country surveyfindings. While between half and three-quarters ofthe women business owners surveyed have soughtexternal financing for their businesses some timeduring the previous 12 months (76% in Tunisia,62% in the UAE, 59% in Jordan, 56% in Bahrain,51% in Lebanon), most have not received anyfinancing from a formal financial institution. Lessthan one-third of most of the women surveyedhave bank credit at the present time: 17% inLebanon, 22% in Bahrain, 32% in the UAE and34% in Jordan. Significantly higher than the othersare the women business owners in Tunisia – 47%of whom have bank credit. While the state offinancial markets in general in these countries mayexplain the relatively low levels of formal bankcredit among the women business ownerssurveyed, another interesting possibility for thehigher share of firms with bank credit in Tunisia isthe fact that – unlike in the other four countries inthis survey project – the majority of womenbusiness owners surveyed in Tunisia are not home-based. Having a business establishment outside thehome may provide these women with the collateraland credit histories they need to obtain formal bankcredit.

Among the women business owners who did seekexternal financing over the past 12 months, asignificant share said that they encountereddifficulties in doing so. Fully 55% of womenbusiness owners in Tunisia encountered anobstacle when seeking financing. For them, highinterest rates (36%) were the most significantbarrier. Another 11% were denied financing due tolack of collateral.

In the UAE, 51% of those surveyed alsoencountered difficulties, ranging from high interestrates (28%) to finding the process too complicated(16%), lack of collateral (15%), and being deniedformal bank credit because of the lack of a trackrecord (14%).

In Jordan, 47% of those surveyed encountereddifficulties seeking external financing. Nineteenpercent (19%) found the interest rates too high,17% found the process too complicated, and 16%were denied due to lack of collateral.

In Lebanon and Bahrain, a significantly lower29% encountered difficulties seeking externalfinancing. For them, high interest rates (16%each) were the main problem.

In none of the five countries did a significant share ofthe women business owners surveyed perceive thatthey were denied financing or were mistreated due tobeing a woman. Just 8% of the women surveyed inthe UAE felt that their difficulties in obtaining capitalwere due to their gender, as did just 5% of the womenin Jordan, 3% in Tunisia, and 2% each in Bahrain andLebanon. Instead, survey findings suggest that thechallenges they face financing their businessesappear to be due to lack of collateral or a businesstrack record, and the self-described need of thewomen business owners to become better educatedabout financial growth strategies and financialmanagement issues in general.

If most of these women do not have a bank loanor line of credit, then how are they financing thegrowth of their enterprises? Financing has comethrough reinvesting business earnings and relyingon personal sources such as savings, friends andfamily. When asked which of ten possible sourcesof financing they had used within the past 12months to finance their businesses, these wereamong the top sources cited. The use of businessearnings was the most prevalent source in four offive countries, and came in second in the fifth.Fifty-five percent (55%) of the women surveyedin Lebanon are financing the growth of theirenterprises through reinvesting business earnings,as are 39% of women in the UAE, 27% in Bahrainand Jordan, and 26% in Tunisia. Private sources(savings, family and friends) have been used overthe past year by 44% of women in the UAE,making it the top source. It came in second inLebanon (29%), Jordan (21%), and Bahrain(12%), and 4th in Tunisia (8%).

Very few of the women business owners surveyeduse credit cards to finance business growth. Onlyin the UAE are a significant number (21%) usingcredit cards. Usage is 5% or less in the other fourcountries. While this may not, in and of itself, bea negative finding given typically higher interestrates on credit cards, it may be an additionalindicator that capital availability is morerestricted for women business owners.


20



21

“My ambition is to expandregionally and globallyafter succeeding locally.”

Rania Al Bastaki distinguished herself from avery young age by her artistic and fabriccreations, her integration of colors, and thedesign of both traditional and Western-styleclothing, which were not often accepted by herparents. As she grew older, she was designingnot only her own clothing, including futuremarriage appliances, but the outfits of herfamily members. By that time, she startedreceiving encouragements to set up a business inthis sector.

Rania began her steps towards businessownership in 2000. “I started designing andbuying traditional ready-to-wear clothes«Djallabas». Once I collected a sufficientamount to start my business, I set up my dress-making shop with the financial assistance of myfather (roughly 150 thousand dirhams, or $ 40,000). I preferred establishing my businessin India, as the cheap labor allowed me tomaster the costs required to carry out thisproject, especially as most of fashion houses setup their factories in Asian countries to achievecost savings. That was at the end of 2001.”

Rania’s entré into the world of business anddesign also coincided with her marriage to anunderstanding husband who has continuously

supported her. He works as an aircraftcommander, and his regular absence enabled herto pay closer attention to her start-up work.Though she is now mother of two children, herpresence in the shop is necessary and her tripsevery three to four months to her factory in Indiaare essential for her to manage designimplementations and specifications. Sheemploys more than 15 men in her factory inIndia, including professional designers, and afemale store manager in Abu Dhabi. She planson expanding her staff in the coming months asshe enters into the world of higher fashion, orHaute Couture.

While Rania’s designs are gaining a reputationin the UAE, she is already starting to reach outto the Gulf region, with an ambition to furtherexpand her business worldwide. However, herlack of reliance on any bank financing or loansis delaying the expansion of her business. As sheacknowledges, “I always prefer to rely on myselfand consider loans and banking support adifficult endeavour, especially for a startingprofessional woman. Seeking financialassistance for small crafts’ projects requires aclear institutional support, which is up to datenon-existent. This has made me reluctant to seekcapital.”

She believes that women, wherever they are, canachieve many successes. “Despite myattachment to the traditional Emirati outfit, Iremain modern and open to new trends; I do notfear competing with the most modern costumedesigners among men and women in the world,as I consider that everyone has their own style,design and fashion taste.”

By Leila Hashem Yacoun, @NGED Member,UAE

Rania Al Bastaki, United Arab Emirates

Ateej Al Souf Fashions,fashion design and

manufacture


Microfinance institutions are a source of capitalfor 9% of the women business owners surveyed inJordan, but 2% or less elsewhere. At the other endof the financial spectrum, 10% of womenbusiness owners in Bahrain have venture capital

financing, but it is just 4% in Jordan, 3% inLebanon, and not used at all by the womenbusiness owners surveyed in Tunisia and theUAE.


22

“I look forward to producinga reference book for thoseinterested in caviar.”

From a very young age, Hamdeh, was very eagerto be involved in the area of trade. At the age ofseven, she collected bread crumbles and re-soldthem for a small profit, which she shared with hergrandmother, who lived with her family.

Hamdeh started working at an early age. Afterfinishing her preparatory studies, she began towork with a friend of her father’s who specializedin caviar trade. She gained experience and by theage of 16 learned the details of that trade. After afew years, she had saved up enough money(nearly 7500 dirhams, or $ 1,000) to start her ownbusiness with support from her family.

Hamdeh started to achieve success in the caviartrade and began growing her business. Sheexpanded from her initial single shop in theMorched market to several stores across Dubaiand within the most renowned hotels. Sheestablished a caviar canning factory, employingnearly 25 workers - including 6 women in middlemanagement positions. Her factory uses moderncanning and packaging techniques – the first inthe world in caviar packing. From her initialinvestment of $ 1,000 in savings, her business hasnow grown to over $ 25 million.

Her business is expanding internationally, withthe leasing of farms in Iran for the cultivation ofcaviar. She is financing that growth through bankfinancing totaling nearly 30 million dirhams

(nearly $ 8.2 million). Her business empire nownumbers three firms: C Food for sea food, DarZaafarane for the canning of caviar, and BlackPearl for caviar cultivation.

Hamdeh’s business success has been recognisedwith her receipt of several awards, including theSheikh Mohamed Ibn Rached Al MaktoumFoundation’s award, and an award from the DubaiPolice Club. She has also been recognized in anequestrian exhibition in the Abu Dhabi and Dubaifree trade areas. She has attended several regionaland international congresses, the most recent ofwhich was the Innovation Congress in theSultanate of Oman in 2006.

Hamdeh’s success provides inspiration both forArab girls and women in general and Emiratiwomen in particular. While coming from acountry where many women rely on theirfamilies’ wealth, she represents the successfulself-made woman in the United Arab Emirates.Hamdeh suggests that all women who choose tostep into the business world to thinkcomprehensively about their business idea andresearch their markets, pricing, and services.“Women should work hard despite the difficultiesand obstacles they face in the Arab societies,especially when they are confronted to competingwith men.”

Hamdeh also wants to share her knowledge of theworld of caviar and is currently writing a book onits history. “I have conducted research on caviarand its presence in the seas of several westerncountries. I look forward to producing a referencebook for those interested in caviar, especiallybecause this species is currently threatened withextinction.”

By Leila Hashem Yacoun, @NGED Member,UAE

Hamdeh Harizi,United Arab Emirates

C Food, Dar Zaafarane, BlackPearl, caviar manufacture and sales



International Trade Activities

Not surprisingly, given the nature of their nationaleconomy as a whole, women business owners inthe UAE are those most likely to be engaged ininternational trade activities, and they are bothimporting and exporting (graph 5). Fully 46% areinvolved in international trade: 17% are importinggoods or services, 8% are exporting, and 21% aredoing both. Nearly as active are women businessowners in Bahrain, although they are less likely tobe exporting. Thirty-nine percent (39%) areinvolved in the international marketplace: 26%are importing, 4% exporting and 9% doing both.Close behind are women business owners inTunisia, a country with a rich history ofinternational trading. Just over one-third (36%) ofthe women business owners surveyed in Tunisiaare trading globally: 18% are importing, 11% areexporting, and 7% are doing both.

Jordanian women exporters. Tunisian womenexporters are exporting to other countries inAfrica (100%) or Europe (79%). The exception tothis are women exporters in the UAE, who areexporting around the world, with no single regiondominating as a market.

On the importing side, Asia (mostly China) is adominant supplier to women business owners inLebanon (86%) and Bahrain (60%). Lebanesewomen importers do a significant amount ofimporting from Turkey and Syria (68%), andBahraini women importers are also doingbusiness in India or Pakistan (24%). The GCCcountries supply some of the goods or services toBahraini (29%), Tunisian (19%) and Jordanian(16%) importers. Tunisian women importers arelooking north to Europe (79%), as are 32% ofLebanese importers, 26% of UAE importers, and29% of Bahraini importers.

Use of Technology

In MENA, as in other parts of the world,increasing use of information andcommunications technologies (ICT) and itsgrowing affordability has been a boon tosmall businesses – enabling them tocompete more directly with larger firms, andproviding them with new opportunities toshare information, collaborate, and pursuebusiness (graph 6).

Survey findings show that women haveembraced technology for their businesses.The women business owners in all five

countries surveyed use ICT for their businesses, atrates well above the per capita averageworldwide(12). Nearly all use mobile phones intheir businesses, over half are using computersand the Internet for business, and several haveweb sites for their enterprises.

Mobile phone usage is nearly ubiquitous, rangingfrom 79% to 93%. Highest usage for businessamong those surveyed is in Lebanon (93%),followed by Jordan (91%), Bahrain (89%),Tunisia (85%) and the UAE (79%).

23


39

22

26

35

46

26

10

18 18 17

46

3

811

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE

Pe

rce

nt

Inv

olv

ed

in

In

t'l

Tra

de

Import/Export/BothImport onlyExport only

Following behind are women business owners inLebanon, 26% of whom are involved ininternational trade, and 22% of women businessowners in Jordan who are trading globally.

The countries that the women business ownerssurveyed are either importing from or exporting toshow very interesting, though not unexpected,differences. The countries to which the womensurveyed are exporting are more likely to begeographically close. For example, all of theLebanese women exporters surveyed are exportingto Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, asare 87% of Bahraini women exporters and 62% of

12- Computer Industry Almanac, 2006. See www.c-i-a.com

graph 5: Women are Engaging in International Trade

These varying rates may roughly follow averagebusiness size (see the demographic section formore detail), and is inversely related to the useof more formal multi-line business telephonesystems. Women business owners in the UAE,though lowest in their mobile phone use relativeto the women in the other countries studied, arehighest in their use of a multi-line phone system(56%). The women surveyed in Lebanon,highest in cell phone usage, are lowest in the useof multi-line systems (11%). Ranging in betweenthose extremes are Jordan (12% utilizing amulti-line phone system), Tunisia (13%) andBahrain (16%). Mobile phone use per capitaworldwide was 32% as of 2005, and is expectedto grow to 48% by 2010(13).

Computer use is also prevalent among the womenbusiness owners surveyed, and significantlyexceeds the worldwide per capita average of14%(14). At least half of all of the business ownerssurveyed use computers in their businesses,ranging from just over half (54% in Tunisia, 55%in Jordan and 58% in Bahrain) to 7 in 10 (70% inLebanon) to over 9 in 10 (94% in the UAE).

Internet use is even higher than computer use,given the accessibility of the Internet in cafésand on mobile phones. Six in 10 women businessowners surveyed in Tunisia (60%) and Jordan(61%) have used the Internet for businesspurposes, as have 85% of women businessowners in Lebanon, 90% in Bahrain, and 99% inthe UAE. Per capita Internet availabilityworldwide is 17%.

When given a list of eight possible waysof using the Internet for business,ranging from e-mail communicationsand researching business opportunities tobuying and selling goods online, themost prevalent uses are e-mailcommunications, exchanging documentselectronically, and researching businessopportunities. It is not yet used withany regularity for e-commerce - forbuying or selling goods online - exceptin the UAE. There, 41% of womensurveyed have purchased goods or

services online, while 27% have sold goods orservices online. In each of the other four countriessurveyed, 16% or fewer have bought online and12% or fewer have sold online.

One final query of the women business ownerswith respect to technology use is whether or notthey have a web site for their business. Again,Gulf region women business owners surveyed arethe most likely to have web sites: a 64% majorityin the UAE and one-third (32%) in Bahrain. Just27% of the women business owners surveyed inJordan have a web site for their business,followed by 19% in Lebanon and 17% in Tunisia.

Business Training and Mentoring

A very important element of promoting thegrowth and development of SMEs in general, andcertainly women-owned firms in particular, is theexistence of adequate support systems to provideneeded information, technical assistance, adviceand guidance. A series of questions asked ofwomen business owners in the five-country studyreveals that most have not yet developed a strongnetwork of external advisors, do not yet have asense of belonging to a group of many fellowwomen business owners, and are interested intraining and technical assistance in several areas.

First, in assessing the breadth of entrepreneurialsupport networks, and the extent to which womenbusiness owners are using them, surveyrespondents were asked how frequently theyconsulted with nine different types of internal(senior managers/key employees, family members


24


Women Are Using ICT in Business Operations

64

99

94

79

17

58

54

85

19

85

70

27

61

55

91

32

90

58

89

17

14

32

93

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Web Site

Internet

Computer(s)

Mobile Phone

Percent Using for Business

Global per capita avg.BahrainJordanLebanonTunisiaUAE

13- Ibid.14- Computer Industry Almanac, 2006. Op. cit

graph 6: Women are Using ICT in Business Operations


involved in the business, and a company board ofdirectors or advisors) and external (fellowbusiness owners, attorney, accountant/financialadvisor, banker, family members not involved inthe business, and an informal mentor) advisorswhen making important business decisions.

In terms of internal consultations, half or more ofthe women business owners consulted at least oneinternal advisor occasionally or very frequentlywhen making business decisions – most frequentlycalling upon family members involved in thebusiness or key managers or employees. Seventy-five percent (75%) of women business owners inTunisia rely occasionally or frequently on theadvice of other family members involved in thebusiness when making key decisions, as do 72%of Lebanese women business owners, 48% ofwomen in Bahrain and the UAE, and just 22% ofJordanian women business owners. In their place,60% of Jordanian women say they rely on advicefrom a company board of directors or advisors;less than 40% of the women in the other countriessurveyed do so.

Senior managers or key employees are consultedon a regular basis by 65% of women businessowners in the UAE, 51% of the women surveyedin Lebanon, 44% in Tunisia, 38% in Jordan, and26% in Bahrain.

In terms of external advisors, it appears that thewomen business owners surveyed have notdeveloped extensive networks of advisors for theirbusinesses. This could indicate that women’sbusiness associations and networks have not yetdeveloped sufficiently to provide these kinds of

referrals to members, or perhaps that these womenhave either not yet developed the confidence toactively seek them out, or that these groups ofadvisors do not yet, as a group, consider womenbusiness owners to be a market worth serving.Whatever the reason, the lack of such supportnetworks is likely limiting the growth potential ofwomen business owners in these countries.

Looking over the list of five typically-usedexternal sources of advice and counsel – fellowbusiness owners, an attorney, a financial advisor, abanker or loan officer, and an informal mentor –only the women in Lebanon call upon more thanone of these types of advisors on a regular basis(as defined by significantly more than half sayingthey consult them occasionally or frequently whenmaking important business decisions), and onlyone category of financial advisor (an accountant orfinancial advisor) is relied upon regularly by thewomen in more than one country (Tunisia andLebanon).

Graph 7 below illustrates the relatively low levelof reliance upon these external business advisorsby the women surveyed. Two-thirds of womenbusiness owners in Lebanon regularly seek theadvice of an attorney, an accountant, and fellowbusiness owners. The same share of women inJordan utilize the advice of a banker or loan officerregularly. Tunisian women business owners callupon their accountant most frequently of any ofthe advisors mentioned, and two-thirds of womenbusiness owners in the UAE consult with fellowbusiness owners when making important businessdecisions.

25


46

22

68

45

53

14

23

22

36

66

46

38

60

64

52

66

31

47

40

25

21

21

37

39

66

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Informal mentor

Banker/Loanofficer

Fellow businessowners

Attorney

Accountant

Percent Use Occasionally/Very Frequently


graph 7: Few Women Surveyed Regularly Rely on Outside Advisors

Only half of the women business owners inJordan, Lebanon and the UAE say they consultwith an informal mentor or advisor, and only25% of the women in Bahrain and an even lower14% in Tunisia have an informal mentor (graph7). Encouraging a greater frequency of suchadvice-seeking, and helping to establish moreextensive counseling networks, can greatlyenhance the growth potential of womenbusiness owners in the region.

Given the relatively low level of use of outsideadvisors, it is perhaps not surprising that most ofthe women business owners surveyed would findadditional entrepreneurship training helpful tothem in managing the growth of their enterprises.

When asked about a variety of types of training,conferences and trips, nearly all are received quitefavourably. On a scale from one (not at all helpful)to five (extremely helpful), nearly all were ratedabove the midpoint on the scale.

The two training topics of greatest interest to themost women business owners surveyed were“learning more about how to access new marketsat home and abroad,” which was the highestranked topic in four of five countries (Bahrain(3.37 average), Lebanon (3.71), Tunisia (3.24) andthe UAE (4.03); women in Jordan ranked it thirdwith a 3.52 average), and “learning more about howto use technology to grow your business,”


26


The idea started when I gotmarried and wanted to build myown house, furnish it and designits own elements myself.”

While Hela Chadi, 33, is still in the beginningstages of realizing her entrepreneurial dreams, herambitions are great. With each piece she makes,she tells a story woven by creative Tunisianfingers. She feels that each of her products shouldrepresent and contain her country’s traditions andcultural heritage.

Hela runs a company specializing in Tunisianhandicraft manufacture, particularly linen,decorative items and kitchen fabric accessories suchas napkins, tablecloths, oven gloves andbreadbaskets. She has a workshop employing 4 full-time workers (2 in embroidery and 2 in sewing) and4 additional part-time, on call workers.

Hela designs and creates her set pieces and modelsusing pure Tunisian ‘Maltese’ cotton, known for itsdurability. In talking about the experiences that ledher to this business, Hela remarks, “At work and inlife I am enthusiastic. Ever since I was a child, Ihave had the courage and the capacity to achievemy plans and to make my dreams come true. Todaythrough my traditional products, I am doing a verynice job to make my country’s heritage knownworldwide. It is part of my heritage and my

identity. If we do not save our traditions, we willnever save our identity. This feeling gets strongerevery time I take part in fairs abroad.”

On the other hand, she understands the constraintsshe sometimes faces in marketing her products, soshe has sought out educational and conferenceopportunities. Through the Tunisian Fund for thePromotion of Exports, she took part in a Canadiansupported training that gives courses on successachievements in foreign fairs for women whowould like to succeed globally. Last year, sheparticipated in the African program for womenexporters, ‘Success’, to give lectures on how to fixpricing policies for export and display techniqueson wrapping and packing. She taught them how tobetter know foreign markets and adjust prices withtheir requirements and how to asses the cost. Inaddition to those activities, Hela says: “I havejoined, this year, the National Chamber of WomenEntrepreneurs, and I attend all the meetings whichare an opportunity to meet Tunisian womenentrepreneurs, know their concerns and exchangeadvices and data on everything pertaining tomarketing and exports.”

Her advice for other women seeking businessopportunities is simple and direct: “They have,first of all, to preserve the specific features of theirproducts, and believe in what they are doing. Wemust not be passive when facing obstacles, but wehave to be cautious and diplomatic in some cases.Life is a permanent struggle.”

By Dhouha Talik, @NGED Member, Tunisia

Mrs Hela Chadi,Tunisia

SOCADECO, handicrafts


which ranked as the second most helpful topic infour of five countries (Bahrain (3.16), Jordan(3.66), Lebanon (3.59) and Tunisia (3.05); womenin the UAE ranked it third with a 3.81 average).

Training sessions on general businessmanagement and leadership issues, and onfinancial management, were also considered to behelpful in improving their business’ growth andsuccess. Interestingly, while learning financialmanagement skills was deemed earlier in thesurvey to be an important business issue, thewomen business owners surveyed rank learningabout new markets and technology as being morehelpful to them than learning financialmanagement skills when put into the context ofbusiness development assistance. Certainly,though, education and training in all three areas –as well as in general business management andleadership – would be welcomed by the womenbusiness owners surveyed.

The women business owners were also asked howhelpful meeting with other women in their owncountries, and traveling to other countries to meetwith women entrepreneurs elsewhere, would be totheir business’ growth. They thought that bothwould be helpful to them, but – except for womenin the UAE – ranked traveling to other countriesas being more helpful than meeting with womenin their own countries. This could be due to an asyet underdeveloped sense of ‘community’

domestically among women business owners, orto a greater level of curiosity to compare theircircumstances and challenges with their fellowwomen business owners elsewhere.

In similar questions asked in other countries, mostrecently last year in Vietnam(15), the results onthis comparison are mixed. In Vietnam, and inearlier studies conducted in Italy and Mexico,women business owners said that they would findit more helpful to meet and share experienceswith fellow women business owners in their owncountries. When a similar series of questions wasasked of women business owners in Argentinaand Australia, they replied that they would find itmore helpful to meet and share experiences withwomen business owners in other countries(16).

It is not surprising to see “learning more aboutgetting involved in policy issues and advocacy”rated lower in helpfulness compared to the othertraining topics tested. Even in fully developedmarket economies and participatory democracies,personal involvement in public policy advocacy isa passion of the few rather than the many.However, while it is ranked last among the seventopics tested in Lebanon (3.28 average), Tunisia(2.2) and the UAE (3.33), it is ranked 4th inJordan (3.46 average) and Bahrain (3.11). Perhapsthe women there have more direct links to policymakers, or have a better sense that their opinionswould be heard.

27


Entrepreneurial Training Would Be Helpful

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

Lear

ning

abou

t new

mkt

s

Lear

ning

abou

tte

chno

logy

Trip

s to

othe

rco

untri

es

Busin

ess

mgm

nttra

inin

g

Fina

ncia

lm

gmnt

train

ing

Mee

t w/

othe

rW

BOs

Trai

ning

on

advo

cacy

Aver

age

Rat

ing

(1-5

sca

le)


15- See MPDF and IFC, Women Business Owners in Vietnam: A National Survey. March 2006.16- The surveys in Argentina, Australia, Italy and Mexico were conducted by the Center for Women’s Business Research.

See www.womensbusinesresearch.org

graph 8: Entrepreneurial Training Would Be Helpful

Entrepreneurship PolicyRecommendations

Just because many of the women business ownerssurveyed in Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisiaand the UAE are not keenly interested in learningmore about getting personally involved in publicpolicy issues and advocacy does not mean thatthey do not have opinions on what theirgovernments can do to make the businessenvironment easier for them and their fellowbusiness owners. Indeed, when asked which threeof 10 possible policy actions to support thedevelopment of SMEs in their country would bethe most important for policy makers to address,they had clear and strong opinions (table 3).

The two policy actions most frequently chosenacross the region were setting up special loanfunds or loan guarantee schemes for smallbusinesses, and reducing the cost of businessregistration. “Setting up special loan funds or loanguarantee schemes for small businesses” wasrated the top policy concern in Tunisia and theUAE, with 46% and 45%, respectively, offering itas their top policy recommendation. It tied forfirst in Lebanon (45%) and was ranked second inimportance in Bahrain (39%). This is notsurprising given that many of the women businessowners surveyed have tried unsuccessfully toobtain credit from banks. They are looking togovernment to promote increased access tofinancing.

“Reducing the amount of money it takes toregister a new business” was the other issuereceiving the top recommendation of womenbusiness owners in Lebanon, with 45% citing it asan important policy action. It placed second inJordan (38% mention) and the UAE (37%).

Reducing the time it takes to register a businesswas also a concern, receiving the first placerecommendation of women business owners inJordan (42%) and third place in Tunisia (34%).

Bahraini women business owners, as well asthose in Jordan, would like to see the governmentpromote business ownership in general with moremarketing and public awareness efforts. This wasthe top recommendation in Bahrain, with a 44%response, and was rated third in Jordan, with a37% mention.

Changing employment laws to increase flexibilityin hiring and replacing workers was also deemedan important policy action, making it into thirdplace among the top three recommendations inthree countries: Bahrain, Lebanon and the UAE.

Two possible options focused more specificallyon women entrepreneurs – providing specialskills training for women only and establishing aspecial government advisory board for women’sbusiness development issues – received supportfrom those surveyed, but did not make it into thetop three policy recommendations.


28






Establish gov’t SME purchasing goals (35%)/Change employment laws (35%)

3rd policy

recommen-

dation


Provide basic skills training to SMEs (36%)




2nd policy

recommen-

dation






Top policy

recommen-

dation


Numbers are percent response asking for top three policy recommendations.

table 3: SME Lending and Reducing Start-up, Employment Barriers are Top Policy Picks


29

“I have overcome theobstacles thanks to myperseverance…”

Using a single second-hand car which she stillkeeps in her memory, in 2001 Mrs. Huda Janahilaunched her company, which provides transport,stocking, direct delivery, warehouse managementand express mail services in the Kingdom ofBahrain. She remembers both her simplebeginnings and her limited capital. At that time,she managed the business from a small shippingoffice with a monthly rent of 60 dinars with theassistance of two employees, a home basedcomputer and capital of less than $ 10,000.

Huda points out the numerous difficulties sheencountered during the foundation period,recalling especially difficulties in obtaining formalbusiness registration and licensing. Before startingher business, she took part in an EntrepreneurshipDevelopment Program training course held byUNIDO, and was the only woman among the 18participants. After participating in the program, shesought to register her business in her own name,but was denied and thus registered it in herfamily’s name. After verifying that the law doesnot prevent women from obtaining their ownregister, she managed to transfer the license to herown name.

The difficulties did not stop at this point, as herrequest for a customs clearance register met withsome surprise, as officials had never received sucha request from a woman before. Indeed, she wasthe first Bahraini woman to be granted suchregister, thus breaking the stereotypical image in asociety that was not used to seeing women cueingalongside men to carry out customs clearanceoperations. She also succeeded in obtaining a40,000 dinar loan from UNIDO through Bahrain’sDevelopment Bank.

“I think one of the most important factors to mysuccess lies in my reliance on experts’ opinionprovided to me by bank directors, economists andsenior experts, which I consider a fundamentalprinciple for the success of any project,” saysJanahi. “In addition to this, I count on the valuesof integrity and honesty stemming from ourreligion, and strongly believe in consulting,quality, flexibility and teamwork.”

Huda has grown her business from simple freightservices to the distribution of promotionaladvertising samples, furniture transportation andglobal freight services. Since 2004, she has usedher experience in the field of travel and freight toget a permit to organize international and localtourist trips from, to and inside Bahrain. She alsocreated a center for nurseries, an administrativecenter for the development of local and foreigncompany’s sales as well as a counseling office offire and safety. She also provides advisoryservices to trade companies. She has grown herfirm to nearly $ 2 million in turnover, and ispreparing to extend her activities to cover all theGCC countries, the Middle East, Europe andChina.

Huda is also interested in developing andpromoting women in the Kingdom of Bahrain,especially in the social field as she is presentlyvolunteering in Bahrain’s Women Program. She isalso a founding member and board member of theBahraini junior businesswomen association and amember of both the Bahraini BusinesswomenSociety and the British BusinesswomenAssociation. Huda's successful professionalcareer has led to her being awarded several prizes,including that of His Highness SheikhMohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler ofDubai, for the best project of a young woman in2005 as well as the “2006 investor” prize awardedto her by the Foundation for the Promotion ofInvestment stemming from the Organization forEconomic Cooperation and Development. Hudaalso figured in the list of Arab “Forbes” magazineas one of the 50 most powerful Arabbusinesswomen.

By Nada Al Wadi, @NGED Member, Bahrain

Mrs. Huda Janahi,Bahrain

Global freight andpassenger services


One-third (33%) of women in Bahrain would liketo see women-focused business educationprograms, as would 22% of women in Jordan,19% in Lebanon, 15% in Tunisia and 11% in theUAE. One-third (32%) of the women in the UAEwould like to see a special government advisoryboard for women’s enterprise issues, as would30% in Tunisia, 26% in Lebanon, 20% in Bahrain,and 15% in the UAE.

However, given the regulatory and proceduralbarriers they see in the business environment ingeneral, the women business owners surveyedplace higher value on focusing government actionin those more general areas, which would benefitall small business owners.

Balancing Business and Social Roles

One final area of focus for this five-country studywas a look into the opinions of women businessowners concerning the impact of gender on theoperation of their businesses. While the womensurveyed certainly do not let their gender get inthe way of their business pursuits – and, indeed,say that on balance their gender does not have asignificant impact on their businesses – there aresome areas that they acknowledge are morechallenging for them, compared to their malecounterparts.

First of all, a majority or plurality of the womensurveyed say that, in general, being a woman isnot a significant challenge in the operation oftheir businesses. Indeed, all see their gender as anet positive for them rather than a detriment(Graph 9). Fully 50% of the women surveyed inJordan say that their gender is a net positiveinfluence on their business, compared to just 7%who think it is a net negative, for a difference of+43. Gender is seen as a net positive influence inall countries: +35 in Lebanon (46% positive, 11%negative), +31 in the UAE (38% positive, 7%negative), +28 in Tunisia (35% positive, 7%negative), and +17 (19% positive, 2% negative,with 77% saying no difference) in Bahrain.

When asked specifically about a number ofbusiness management issues, however, many ofthe women do admit that some situations are morechallenging for them as women. Top among themis balancing work and family life (graph 10).Approximately half of the women businessowners surveyed in all countries except Bahrainsay that balancing work and family is morechallenging for them as women; few say it iseasier. For all, the difference between those whosay it is easier compared to those who say it ismore challenging nets out on the challenging side(see graph on the following page).


30


2

7

7

11

7

79

58

56

43

43

19

35

38

46

50

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Bahrain

Tunisia

UAE

Lebanon

Jordan

Percent

Net negativeNo difference/NANet positive

graph 9: In General, Gender Seen as a Net Positive Among Women Surveyed


31


Balancing Work & Family Most Difficult

-42

-25

-12

-21

-12

-8

-21

7

-37

-32

-12

-2

-10

-21

5

3

-44

-19

-16

-16

-27

-37

10

-43

-35

-33

-30

-30

-16

-27

1

-6

0

-3

-9

5

-1

2

21

-36

-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30

% Easier minus % More Challenging as a Woman

Managing female employees

Being taken seriously as a business owner

Managing male employees

Networking & building informal Business relationships

Gaining access to capital

Dealing with bureaucracy & paperwork

Dealing with business payoffs & bribes

Balancing work & family life


17- Gender and growth assessments conducted by IFC-GEM in Kenya and Uganda draw similar conclusions with respect to bribes and informalbusiness payments. See www.ifc.org/gem for those reports.18- See statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics Canada, the OECD, the European Commission and APEC.

The only issue area among 11 tested in whichmore women believe being a woman makes thetask easier is in managing female employees.

In all other areas, more women in all or nearly allcountries say that it is more challenging to handlesuch business tasks as dealing with businesspayoffs,(17) dealing with government bureaucracy,gaining access to capital, and building informalbusiness relationships. (See chart above andresults to question 29 in the Survey Resultssection later in the report).

It is the case, however, that for most of theseareas, a significant number of women do say thatthey believe there is no difference in how difficultthese issues are for them, as women, compared tohow challenging they are for their malecounterparts. Between 40% and 60% of thosesurveyed answer “no difference” to most of theissue areas queried. Only in the areas of balancingwork and family and dealing with businesspayoffs and bribes do most of the women businessowners surveyed feel that there is a genderdifference in the difficulty of these issues.

Business and Personal Characteristics

The women business owners surveyed in the fivecountries share much in common on both apersonal and business level. So, too, they sharemuch in common with their fellow women businessowners in other regions of the world. Further, thesize and diversity of the businesses surveyedshould help to dispel the myth that there are few

women-owned businesses in the region, and thatthose businesses are largely micro-enterprises.

With respect to their businesses, most of thewomen surveyed have owned their firms for morethan five years, started it themselves, are the soleor majority owners, and operate their businesseson a full-time basis. On average, the womensurveyed in Bahrain have owned their businessesfor 10.2 years, in Jordan for 6.1, in Lebanon for10.6, in Tunisia for 8.6, and in the UAE for 5.9years. Thus, the women business owners inBahrain and Lebanon are somewhat moreseasoned business owners, while those in theUAE and Jordan are the newest to businessownership. In all instances, however, most of thewomen business owners surveyed are past thestart-up stage and thus are operating establishedenterprises. On average, their firms are youngerand somewhat smaller than the average woman-owned firm in North America or Western Europe,but are on par with women-owned firms inEastern Europe and many parts of Asia(18).

In terms of their share in the ownership of theirfirms, a 59% majority of the women surveyed inBahrain are the sole owners of their firms, as are55% of the women in Tunisia. Pluralities of thewomen business owners surveyed in Jordan (48%),the UAE (48%) and Lebanon (41%) are also soleowners. Adding in minority shared ownership withothers, 75% of the women business owners surveyedin Bahrain own 51% or more of their firms, followedby 66% in Tunisia, 65% in the UAE, 64% in Jordanand 53% of the women surveyed in Lebanon.

graph 10: Many Business Issues Deemed More Challenging for Women


32

“If there is no work available,invent it...”

Hazar Mirabi Salam is a Lebanesebusinesswoman in her mid-fifties who runs aprivate company providing engineering services.She has managed to forge ahead in the world ofbusiness by carrying out projects both in andoutside of Lebanon.

Hazar is the sixth daughter in her family. She wasborn in northern Lebanon, “reared alone”, as shesays. Her father died when she was young and hermother found herself solely responsible for thefamily and for the business management. And, asher family was involved politically in the country,their home was considered as one of the homes inthe area of "Akar" which by tradition shouldalways be open to people. Her mother had todevote herself to the management of herproperties which required the assistance of hersons given that she was a woman working in aconservative society.

Hazar's design talents were discovered by Sistersentrusted with the management of a school thatbelonged to them in the city of Tripoli. They weregranting a special attention to art, embroidery andmusic. Hazar started to become aware of herartistic capabilities which went beyond artisticcreation to the design and implementation ofprestigious engineering projects. “I took part in astudent movement aimed at exerting pressure sothat the state would open a branch of the Collegeof Fine Arts at the Lebanese University in Tripoli.The move succeeded and led to the creation ofthis College, which I joined. I was highlycommitted to work, openness and noble causes, as

I have learned so much from my mother and wasdeeply influenced by her.” She ended up obtainingan engineering degree with a high distinction.

She entered the world of business as soon as shegraduated and worked with some of her professors.“As I highly value freedom and autonomy, Idecided to open my own office. I was 27 when Icreated my own office with some of my colleagues.At the beginning I started to work alone, assisted byonly one person in the workshop”. She produced atthat time some distinctive work until she decided toget married and have children. “My stability athome helped me to enhance my devotion andcommitment to work; so I went on working fromhome with the assistance of women engineers whohelped me design maps and carry them out.”

During the war, she resumed work outside her homeand started supervising a team of three womenengineers to carry out her operations. "I alwayspreferred working with young women because theyare more committed and accurate in addition tobeing more resolute to remain in Lebanon; this is asopposed to young men who, most of them, have thistemptation to emigrate.”

The first project was designed and carried out in hernative city of Tripoli, where she designed thepremises of the Middle East Airlines. Afterwards,she designed four restaurants in Beirut airport. Aftersucceeding in submitting the best offer for thedesign, she was denied the work because thegeneral director at that time did not want a womanto carry out such project. She believes, however,that there is no difference between men and womenin terms of intelligence and the ability to innovateand succeed in the world of business. Hazar adviseswomen that "if there is no work available for them,to invent it as a gateway to social, emotional andeconomic safety and a means to build up thepersonality and highlight the potential.”

By Roula Mickael, @NGED Member, Lebanon

Hazar Mirabi Salam,Lebanon

engineering services



33

While the women business owners surveyed arethe owners of their enterprises, many share somedegree of ownership with others. Among thosewho are sharing ownership of their firms withothers, they typically have only one or twoadditional owners, usually their husband oranother family member. Among those answeringthe question on what individuals share ownershipin the business, over 40% in each country say thattheir husbands have a minority ownership role inthe firm, followed by other family members (notincluding parents or children).

When asked how many hours per week theytypically spend managing their businesses (Table4), the vast majority reply that they spend at least40 hours per week operating the business. In fact,many are spending 60 or more hours on theirbusinesses. Fully 73% of the women businessowners in Bahrain spend 40 or more hoursmanaging their business, as do 70% of the womenin Lebanon, 62% in the UAE, 60% in Tunisia, and52% in Jordan. One quarter of the womensurveyed in Bahrain (25%) and in the UAE (24%)are actually working 60 or more hours per week inthe business. In Tunisia and Jordan, a somewhatlower one in five (21% and 17%, respectively)

spend 60 hours or more in the business, and inJordan, just 9% work 60 hours or more. It is clearthat most of the women business owners surveyedare operating their businesses on a full-time basis.

What kinds of businesses are these womenstarting and operating? The short answer is, allkinds. The women surveyed in all five countriesare operating businesses in all sectors of theeconomy. Typically, however, like mostbusinesses – male- or female-owned – and likemany of the women entrepreneurs in other partsof the world, they are most likely to own firms inthe service sector, in retail trade, or in non-durablemanufacturing.

Graph 11 below shows the distribution of firms byindustry across the five countries. The largestshare of women-owned firms in Jordan (55%), theUAE (52%), Bahrain (44%) and Tunisia (43%)are in the services sector, while in Lebanongoods-producing firms (37%) lead the way. Retailand wholesale trade is another area of businessactivity. One-third (32%) of the women-ownedfirms surveyed in Lebanon are in trade, as are22% of firms in Tunisia, 18% in Bahrain, and15% in both Jordan and the UAE.

25

52

15

7

0

43

22

37

4

23

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18

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60

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Bahrain

73

25

Jordan

51

9

Lebanon

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17

Tunisia

60

21

UAE

62

24

table 4: The Number of Hours Businesswomen Spend Operating their Enterprises

graph 11: Women-Owned Firms Found in All Industries

In terms of the size of their enterprises, most of the women businessowners interviewed have employees in addition to themselves –putting them ahead of most women-owned firms in Western Europeand North America – and many have substantial revenue levels.With respect to the average number of employees per firm (graph12), the women-owned firms in Tunisia are the largest: employing,on average, 19.3 workers per firm. This is followed by the women-owned firms in the UAE and Bahrain, with 13.9 and 13.3 employeeson average, respectively. Women-owned firms in Jordan average 6employees per firm(19).

With respect to their revenuelevels (graph 13), whencompared on a USD-equivalent basis, between 6%and 33% are generating morethan $ 100,000 per annum –which compares veryfavourably to the 13% sharefound among women-ownedfirms in the United States(20).

Women-owned firms in theUAE are generating the highestrevenue levels among the fivecountries surveyed. Fully 33%have revenues at or above $ 100,000, including 14% with$ 1 million or higher. Eighteenpercent (18%) of women-owned firms surveyed inTunisia are generating inexcess of $ 100,000 inrevenues, as are 10% inBahrain and 6% each in Jordanand Lebanon.

Like many of the womenbusiness owners in other partsof the world, a significant shareof the women business ownerssurveyed operate home-basedbusinesses. Approximately halfof the women in four out of thefive countries operate home-based enterprises (50% inJordan and the UAE, 53% inBahrain, 58% in Lebanon).This is quite similar to theshare found in other countries.For example, in the UnitedStates 56% of women-ownedfirms are home-based.(21) Theexception to this finding in thesurvey is in Tunisia, where just13% of the owners surveyedare operating from their homes.


34

19- In Lebanon, the question asked was only if the firms had employees in addition to the owner, not how many. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the women-owned firms surveyed in Lebanon did have employees in addition to the owner.20- U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 Economic Census of Women-Owned Firms. http://www.census.gov/csd/sbo/women2002.htm21- U.S. Census Bureau, Characteristics of Businesses, 2002. Table 5

7

35

40

10

36

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33 32

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18

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6

0

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Under $5K $5-24,9K $25-99K $100K+

2005 Revenues (in USD)

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13.3

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Bahrain Jordan Lebanon* Tunisia UAE

Av

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Full-timePart-time

* In Lebanon, employment asked as a yes/no question. 56% had full-time employees, 35% had part-time employees.

graph 12: Average Employment of Women-Owned Firms Surveyed

graph 13: Comparative Revenue Distribution of Women-Owned Firms Surveyed


And what about these women business owners ona personal level? Like women business ownersaround the world, most are married with children,between the ages of 35 to 54, and well-educated.Their personal demographic profile is thus verysimilar to the typical formal-sector womanbusiness owner in nearly every country wheresuch surveys have been undertaken.

In comparing their age profiles across countries,the women business owners interviewed in Jordanare the youngest, while those in Lebanon are theoldest. In Jordan, 45% of those interviewed areunder the age of 35; in Lebanon, 39% are 45 orolder. However, as previously stated, most arebetween 35 and 54: 78% in Bahrain, 66% in theUAE, 60% in Tunisia, 55% in Lebanon, and 49%in Jordan.

The Majority of women in each of the countriesare married: 72% in Tunisia, 65% in the UAE andBahrain, 61% in Jordan, and 56% in Lebanon.And most have children. The women businessowners surveyed in Jordan have the largestfamilies – 3.2 children on average, while those inthe UAE have the smallest – 1.4 children onaverage. In between, the women surveyed inBahrain have an average 2.3 children, those inLebanon 1.9 and in Tunisia 1.8.

The women business owners surveyed are verywell-educated, as is typically found in similarsurveys, and as regional educational statisticswould indicate. Fully 91% of the women businessowners surveyed in Bahrain have some level ofpost-secondary education, as do 79% in Tunisiaand the UAE, 76% in Jordan, and 40% inLebanon. A surprising 32% of women businessowners in the UAE have achieved a post-graduatelevel of education, compared to 13% in Tunisia,9% in Jordan, 7% in Bahrain, and 1% in Lebanon.At the other end of the educational spectrum, lessthan 1% of the women business owners surveyedin Bahrain have only a primary level of formaleducation, as do just 3% in Jordan, 4% in Tunisia,8% in the UAE, and 16% in Lebanon.

35


For Public Policy Makers

The women business owners surveyed haveencountered some significant barriers in startingand growing their enterprises, and they feel thatthese issues should be addressed, not only fortheir benefit but for the benefit of all SMEs intheir countries. The most significant barriersnoted by the women include:

Difficulties in accessing formal externalsources of financing for their businesses.Most women business owners surveyed are notcurrently utilizing commercial banks forbusiness credit; government intervention mayfacilitate greater capital availability.Business entry barriers. Women businessowners in nearly all countries – especially inJordan, Lebanon and the UAE – feel that thetime it takes to register a business and the costto formalize an enterprise are too great andshould be addressed.Employment laws and regulations. Many ofthe women business owners surveyed,especially those in Bahrain and Tunisia, citefinding and keeping good employees as amajor business concern. They recommend thatpolicy makers address employment laws thatmay not give them the flexibility they need tohire and replace workers.Business infrastructure costs. The basic costsof doing business, such as electricity,communications and business rent, are of greatconcern in all five countries, but especially soin the UAE, where the cost of rent is the singlegreatest business issue concern, and inLebanon, where the cost of utilities is likewisethe top issue concern. Moderating these costsof doing business would free up more businessresources for investing in growth.

After reviewing the opinions expressedby the women business ownerssurveyed in Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon,

Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, there aresome clear conclusions and preliminaryrecommendations that can be made: to policymakers, to women’s business associations andother entrepreneurial support organizations,and to financial institutions.

Letting their voices be heard. Womenbusiness owners are interested in letting theirvoices be heard in policy formulation. It wouldbe especially fruitful for future research toassess any potential gender differences inboth the nature and the relative importance ofbarriers to business growth, as therecommendations noted here may be quitesimilar to those that would be offered by menbusiness owners.

For Women’s Associations andEntrepreneurial Support Organizations

Most of the women business owners surveyed donot yet have a sense of ‘belonging to a group’ ofother women business owners. They recognizethat they are in need of more training and technicalassistance in a number of areas, both general andspecific. So, too, they have an appetite for learningmore about new markets and about technology,two areas that could attract them to membershiporganizations. It is thus recommended thatwomen’s business membership associations, andother organizations offering support to enterprisedevelopment, consider providing:

More general business management andleadership skill-building focused on poststart-up businesses. This is of interest in allfive countries, but particularly in the UAE,Lebanon and Jordan.Financial management training. This isparticularly of interest, again, to women businessowners in the UAE, Lebanon and Jordan.Access to new markets. Women businessowners in Bahrain and Tunisia rate access tonew markets as an important business concern,and those in Bahrain are especially interested ingovernment procurement markets as a potentialnew market niche. Less than one-quarter ofwomen-owned firms in Jordan and Lebanon arecurrently involved in international trade; theymay benefit from training on how to pursuebusiness opportunities outside their borders.Technology for business growth. Learningabout new technologies for business growthwas of especially high interest among womenbusiness owners in the UAE, Jordan andLebanon.


36

Conclusions and Recommendations

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Strengthening external support networksfor women business owners, so that they willdevelop stronger alliances for business growth.

For Financial Institutions

Financial institutions are an important player insmall business development in general. And,given that the women business owners surveyedhave identified access to financing as a criticalbusiness issue, it is recommended thatcommercial banks and other financial institutions:

Consider the growing market that women-owned enterprises provide, and seek to exploretheir market potential.Evaluate efforts in the SME market in generalto better understand how to differentiateproducts or services to better serve the womanbusiness owner market.Utilize internal research resources to evaluateexisting (and potential) financial portfolioperformance by gender.Seek to establish or build relationships withbusinesswomen’s associations in their markets.

Most of the ‘ingredients’ exist in each of thesecountries to stimulate a significantly greater shareand higher scale of women’s entrepreneurialactivity. With greater communication andcoordination among interested parties in thepublic sector, in corporations, financialinstitutions and entrepreneurial supportorganizations, and in the women’s businesscommunity, the growth of women-ownedbusinesses in the Middle East and North Africawill reach new heights. Toward that end,additional research that can add to and go beyondthe preliminary findings raised here would beuseful – especially engendered research that cancompare and contrast the characteristics,contributions and challenges of women and menbusinesses owners.

37

Conclusions and Recommendations

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It was agreed that the population of interest in thisresearch project would be women who own – inwhole or in part – a business in the formal sectorof the economy. Thus, women who own firms inthe informal sector, as well as ‘businesswomen’ inthe labor force who work for someone else(including women managers), are not included inthis study. It also means that men business ownerswould not be included in the study. Whileinterviewing men would have allowed makinggender comparisons with respect to the mainstudy findings, it was agreed that – given that themain objectives of this project were as much tobuild capacity within businesswomen’sassociations and relationships between them andresearch organizations as to provide informationabout women business owners in the region –concentrating on women would simplify analready difficult process of finding andinterviewing the study subjects.

Indeed, it was acknowledged by all study partnersthat the lack of solid statistical information onwomen-owned firms in each country, and the lackin most cases of a formal business registry orcensus, would mean that a critical initial step inthe project would be building relationships withimportant business organizations, and findingpopulations of women business owners tointerview for this study.

The goal in each country, as agreed to during thismeeting, was to gather as representative apotential survey population as possible – but

acknowledging that in each country this wouldstill mean utilizing a ‘convenience sample’ ratherthan a truly random, representative sample of allwomen business owners in the country. Referralswere used to gather such samples, with the goal ofcompleting 200 or more interviews in eachcountry. In most cases, the surveys wereconducted by means of a personal interview.

After agreeing upon a common questionnairetemplate – which each country team was able toamend with issues of local concern – thequestionnaires were made available in Arabic,English and French. The template used for thisstudy was based upon a survey instrument usedby the IFC and the Mekong Private SectorDevelopment Facility (MPDF) in a 2005 surveyamong women business owners in Vietnam.Questions from the Vietnam study have been usedregularly in surveys among women businessowners in nearly a dozen other countries over thepast decade, making them quite comparable on aninternational basis. The final questionnairetemplate utilized also benefited from the GEMsurvey instrument used in Yemen.

Interviews were conducted between May andOctober 2006, with a hiatus in most countriesduring the months of July and August. Afterinterviewing was complete, the following numbersof completed interviews were obtained in eachcountry, totaling 1,228 completed interviews. Atthe 95% level of confidence, the survey samplingerror thus ranges from 4.8% to 10.0% - meaningthat, 95 times out of 100, survey responses will bewithin those ranges when compared with truepopulation values, and that differences in surveyfindings between countries would have to be largerthan those error ranges to be statisticallysignificant. The sampling errors reported are themost conservative – taking into considerationsurvey responses at or near 50% (as opposed topercentage responses of 80% or more, where thesampling error would be lower).

The lessons learned in the data collection andinterviewing process were many. It is expectedthat the IFC GEM team will be preparing aseparate Gender Notes brief focusing on thelessons learned for sample construction,interviewing, survey instrument preparation, andanalysis.

Summary of Study Methodologies


38

y p p g

Number of Interviews

Sampling Error

Bahrain 245 ± 6.3% Jordan 444 ± 4.8% Lebanon 232 ± 6.8% Tunisia 197 ± 7.1% United Arab Emirates 110 ± 10.0%

As part of the planning and organizationof this project, all study partners –representatives of women’s business

associations and research institutes – met inTunis in April 2006 to discuss and agree uponcommon study objectives, timing, andmethodological considerations.

table 5: Summary of Completed Interviews and Sampling Error

Executive Country Reports


3922- Full country reports, which will also be made available at www.ifc.org/gem, include more comprehensive lists of recommendations.

While the main report presents the combined research results from the fivecountries, each country team also worked independently to analyze thefindings from their perspectives, and prepared reports summarizing survey

findings at the country level. In a few instances, some numbers may differ due to filteringor averaging of some response categories, but the findings remain congruent with thepreceding analysis. Here, following, are excerpts from the country reports which providea brief summary of key findings and select recommendations from the country teams,including recommendations for action from national perspectives.(22)

A group of five researchers were trained andtargeted a randomly selected sample. Contact wasface-to-face, via fax and via email. 270questionnaires were distributed to Bahrainiwomen business owners, and 252 were returned.

III. Access to and Use of Financing

Although 90.3% of respondents highlighted theimportance of the access to capital to finance theirbusinesses, over 85.1% of businesswomen did notuse any type of external financing for theirbusiness in the past 12 months. Most reported thatthey use business earnings as a source of finance.This could be due to their limited awareness of theavailability of finance. Women may also behesitant to approach financial institutions or dealwith male bankers and potentially negativeattitudes towards women clients. 41% of thebusinesswomen stated that they had not soughtexternal financing for their business, and 77% donot have any loans/ bank credits. 35% are planningto seek external financing to expand into newmarkets and 38.6% are planning to use externalfinance to maintain operating expenses.

IV. Economic Outlook, Future Plans and Goals

Bahraini women business owners (58.1%) have anoptimistic outlook for the growth of the Bahrainieconomy. They have an even higher level ofoptimism for the growth and development of theirown businesses (68.5%). 34.5% aim to expandinto new markets in the next two years, and 20.2%aim to do the same in the next 12 months. Thesefigures illustrate that the Bahraini women businessowners have a large business potential that wouldalso benefit the country’s overall economy.However, with 36.7% reporting a ‘wait and see’attitude, women-owned businesses have thepotential to contribute more, with most of thesurveyed businesses being relatively small and57.3% of them operating from home.

V. International Trade Activities

An interesting 60.8% of the respondents reportedthat they are not involved in exporting orimporting goods and/or services. Of those


40

Executive Country Report : Bahrain

I. Introduction

Women in Bahrain can be found at the highestlevels of government—as Ministers, asAmbassadors, Shura Council members andMembers of Parliament. They are also found inprominent positions in the private sector—asbank directors, presidents of large corporations,senior partners in law firms, and as corporatedirectors of finance, public relations, and humanresources. For the past decade, femaleemployment and literacy rates in Bahrain havebeen among the highest in the region. Yet there isstill potential for improvement as many womenare struggling to reach higher socio-economic andpolitical levels in the society.

II. Methodology

The standard questionnaire developed byCAWTAR/IFC was tailored to fit the Bahrainicontext and was translated into Arabic. Thesample population was a combined list from theBahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry(BCCI) database of all registered womenbusinesses and the Bahrain BusinesswomenSociety database. From these databases,respondents were identified through a randomsampling technique.

Bahrain

“The partnership with research centers is agood strategy and important as it gives us theopportunity as a business association tounderstand women entrepreneurs’ needs.Through this project we will be able toexchange experience and information and tolearn about addressing the gaps facingdevelopment of women’s entrepreneurship.” (Nada Fawzi al Shehabi, BahrainBusinesswomen Society) “A result of this capacity building projectsuggests that research centers establish womenstudies units to liaise and leverage this type ofresearch efforts.” (Ibrahim Al Rumahi Bahrain, Center forStrategic Studies and Research)


exporting, 10% tend to export to countries in theGulf Cooperation Council (GCC), 0.32% exportto Asia, and 0.12% to United States and Canada.21.8% of the surveyed women business ownersimport from Asia, and 10.7% import from GCCcountries, indicating that surveyed women couldbenefit from assistance for business expansioninto new markets.

VI. Use of Technology

Bahraini women have been pioneers inembracing technology. 90.8% of the surveyedwomen use the Internet. 58.4% of womensurveyed indicated the use of a personalcomputer for their business activities. 40.6% useemail for business. However, only 25.3% use theInternet for researching new businessopportunities, 14.9% use it to stay updated oninternational business trends, and 16.9% use theInternet to exchange documents with customersand suppliers. Only 32.3% of the surveyedwomen business owners have company websites,indicating the need to further highlight thepotential benefits of information andcommunications technologies (ICT).

VII. Access to Information, Education and Training

Women in Bahrain are highly educated, with over60% holding university degrees. The majorityrecognizes the importance of their educationalbackground for their business, and highlights theimportance of training, particularly in areas ofbusiness management and financial managementskills. A large number of women also emphasizethe usefulness of regular meetings with otherbusinesswomen to exchange experiences andnetwork. Over 77% of those surveyed aremembers of the BBS, and 13.3% are alsomembers in other Arab Businesswomen Societies.

VIII. Social Roles

Bahraini women business owners do not consider“gender” a barrier in conducting their businesssuccessfully. Only 2% of the women surveyedstate that being a woman has a negative influenceon their businesses. The Bahraini government

promotes gender equality and supports women'sempowerment. The majority of businesswomenhave found that they are taken seriously at work,are capable of working with clients, can deal withbureaucracy, and can manage their employees.

As in many other countries, businesswomen inBahrain face the challenge of balancing theirwork and family affairs. 48% of women spendbetween 40 to 59 hours per week managing theirbusinesses. 26% of those surveyed consider thework/ family life balance to be a major challenge.Yet, over 50% report no difference in this respect.This could be due to the fact that women arecapable of multitasking. Moreover, the Bahrainisociety is generally family-oriented, and manyworking women tend to get great support fromtheir immediate family.

IX. Business and PersonalCharacteristics of Women Business Owners

The survey indicates that women business ownersin Bahrain own relatively well establishedbusinesses and have extensive experiencemanaging their enterprises. 69.4% of the surveyedwomen-owned businesses are 5 to 19 years old.Over 60% of the women surveyed have ownedbusinesses prior to their existing business. Morethan 60% of women-owned businesses are solelyowned, and 52.5% have one business partner.Only 6% stated that they own less than 50% oftheir business, and of these, 43.4% are jointlyowned by their husbands.

41.1% of women-owned businesses are in theservices sector (including travel and personalservices) and 21.4% are in manufacturing. Thisillustrates that women business owners in Bahrainare operating in different industries, including inthose that have generally been dominated by men(such as transportation services).

Over 50% of the surveyed women businessowners are also paid employees of otherorganizations (public or governmental). Workingwomen have a higher likelihood of starting theirown businesses than those who are not working.Working women who seek new business 41


opportunities tend to utilize their wages tofinancially support their businesses. This is anincreasing phenomenon in Bahrain, especiallyamong younger women.

Regarding personal characteristics, over 50% ofthe surveyed women reported that their age,marital status, nationality and gender are nothampering their business success. Of the womensurveyed, 65.5% were married, 98.8% wereBahraini, 60.7% have university degree, 69.7%have less than nine employees, and 46.6% arebetween the age of 35-44 years.

X. Recommendations

It has been evident from this research that womenbusiness owners are playing an increasinglyimportant role in Bahrain’s private sector. Yet,there is also a need to motivate more Bahrainiwomen to take up entrepreneurial activities andrecognize their potential by creatingopportunities. Some of the recommendationsfrom this research are as follows:

Promote further research on women’sentrepreneurship. Though thisCAWTAR/IFC supported research is animportant step towards reducing data gaps,further research is encouraged to betterunderstand women owned small and mediumenterprises. Studies should be conducted incooperation with research centers and countrywide data collection surveys and census shouldbe gender mainstreamed.

Promote female entrepreneurial culture.Efforts should be made to foster greaterawareness of the personal benefits ofentrepreneurship to women. The Bahrainigovernment in collaboration with businesssocieties should encourage femaleentrepreneurship by showcasing successfulbusinesswomen role models.

Provide training that meets businesswomen’s specific needs. Educational andtraining centers in collaboration with businesssocieties should educate businesswomen on a

variety of issues, in particular issues related tosmall and medium businesses.

Organize women entrepreneur specificeconomic and entrepreneurial conferences,workshops and seminars. Such seminars willassist businesswomen’s development andnetworking at local, regional and internationallevels.

Assist women business owners to expandtheir market reach and develop theirbusinesses from small size operation tomedium size businesses. Bahraini businesswomen networks can be instrumental indisseminating information on tradeopportunities.



42

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Executive Country Report : Jordan


of the respondents. 17.1% of women found theprocess too complicated, 6.1% were deniedfinancing because of the lack of collateral, and4.1% were denied financing because of lack of abusiness track-record. Of the women surveyed,5.1% confirmed having perceived mistreatment dueto being women. Yet 12.2% answered that theyhave not encountered any difficulties, and 41%have not sought external financing. The surveyresults indicate that 34.2% of women businessowners benefited from a bank credit (loan or line ofcredit). 44.1% of the women respondents took outloans below the value of 3540 Jordanian Dinar(JOD). This indicates that most of the womenowned businesses surveyed are small enterprises.

Of the women business owners surveyed, 82.2%considered access to capital as a main factorinfluencing their businesses. The majority ofwomen business owners who successfully receiveda loan either were a startup enterprise or a microenterprise. Businesswomen with small and mediumsized enterprises tended to depend more on theirbusinesses’ profits to expand their businesses.

III. Economic Outlook, Plans and Goals

Women business owners' expectations concerningthe Jordanian economy ranged between optimisticand neutral. Concerning their expectations for theirbusiness development in the coming 12 months,results indicate that 56.5% of women look forwardto increasing capital investment, 43.7% lookforward to hiring new employees, 27.5% plan toexpand into new markets, while 12.8% will seekspecial aid or support from the government, and10.4% will seek out a foreign business partner. Onthe other hand, 25.5% will “wait and see” and areplanning to keep employment and investmentlevels at about the same.

Of the women business owners surveyed, a third(29.5%) wishes to grow their businesses from apart-time venture to a full-time business. At thesame time, 19.4% wish to maintain theirbusinesses as a part-time venture to supplementhousehold income. To achieve their goals duringthe coming two years, most women businessowners (62%) reported that it was likely that theywill seek external financing to finance operatingexpenses 43

I. Introduction and Methodology

This study aims at understanding characteristicsand needs of women business owners in Jordan. Itprovides primary data for decision makers(governmental and private sector entities) whichcan be translated into policies to promote a businessenabling environment in which women can investand prosper. The questionnaire was distributedrandomly to a sample of 444 women businessowners, taking into consideration that all economicsectors and all of the Kingdom's governorates wererepresented. Data was collected through personal,face-to-face interviews.

II. Access to and Use of Financing

Women business owners use different resourcesto meet the financial needs of their businesses.The survey results indicate that the highestpercentage of women business owners (35.4%)did not rely on external financial resources andthat 20.9% relied on private resources (personalsavings, friends and families). 27% depended onthe earnings of their business, 14.2% acquiredbusiness/commercial bank loans, 9.2% receivedmicro-finance loans, and 8.1% took out personalbank loans. A small percentage used credit cards,business lines of credits and vendor credits (1.6%,2.5%, and 2.9%, respectively).

Women business owners encountered difficultieswhen they looked for financial resources. Interestrates were considered too high, as indicated by 18.9%

Jordan

“The initiative is unique in its approach bymaintaining real cooperation between researchcenters and NGOs. It will enable us to identifythe Arab experiences, to establish networks andto exchange experiences.”(Abeer Dababneh, Women StudiesDepartment University of Jordan)“The value of the proposed study relates to itsregional nature and its focus on womenentrepreneurs in different Arab countries. Ithink it is the first of its kind in the region.” (Rana Akhal, Jordan Forum for Business andProfessional Women)

It should be noted that half of the surveyedwomen owned businesses in the educational andnatural resource development sectors hadwebsites, but only 11% of the businesses in themedical sector had websites, with hardly anywebsites in the manufacturing sector. Websiteswere mostly established in businesses wherewomen owners hold a university degree (33.3%)or a Master of Arts degree (67.5%). Website usagedecreased with lower levels of education.

VI. Procedures to Help SmallBusinesses

The Jordanian women business owners surveyedconsider access to capital as the most importantfactor affecting their businesses (82.2%), and81.6% are concerned with the high cost of publicservices (electricity, water, telephones, etc.).

The survey results indicate that 76% of womenbusiness owners think it would be useful for theirown business’ growth and success to exchangeexperiences through organizing trips to othercountries to meet with women business ownersand their organizations. 73.2% think it isimportant to learn more about how to usetechnology to grow their business, and 70.4%would like to learn more about how to access newmarkets home and abroad. As for procedures thatcan be adopted by decision makers to help smallbusinesses, 42.3% of the surveyed womensuggested decreasing the time necessary toestablish and register a new business, 38.1%suggested decreasing the cost of registering a newbusiness, 36.7% indicated the need to promotebusiness ownership in general by exerting moremarketing and public awareness efforts, and30.6% supported the idea of setting up specialloans funds or loan guarantee schemes for smallbusinesses.

VII. Social Roles

The biggest challenge facing women businessowners in Jordan is balancing work and familylife. In fact, half of the women surveyed (50.7%)stated that balancing work and family was morechallenging for them because they are women.Just less than half (46.2%) felt that dealing withbusiness payoffs and bribes was more difficult for


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(such as managing payroll and cash flow), andmore than half (58%) thought it was likely thatthey would seek finance to expand into newmarkets.

IV. International Trade Activities

The survey results indicate that the majority(74.1%) of surveyed women business owners arenot involved in international trade. It requiresfurther research to better understand the reasonsbehind such phenomenon. The results indicatethat women business owners’ involvement ininternational trade is more likely as womenbusiness owners' levels of education increase.Concerning those whose businesses are involvedin international trade (22.3%), women businessowners export their products mostly to the GulfCooperation Council (58.2%), then to Iran, Iraq,and Afghanistan (18.2%), and Europe (7.3%).The highest percentage of their imports was forgoods from Asia (29.2%), followed by the UnitedStates of America or Canada (25.0%), followedby imports from countries of the GulfCooperation Council (22.9%).

V. Use of Technology

The survey results indicate that 91% of thesurveyed women business owners use cellularphones, and that 55.2% use personal computers,and that 40.5% have fax machines. Yet theirbusinesses lack more advanced technology suchas multi-line telephone systems and local areanetworks linking computers, where only 11.5%and 8.3% of surveyed women having thesetechnology tools, respectively.

Of the women business owners surveyed, 39.4%have never used the internet. Less than half of thesurveyed business owners – only 40.5% - useelectronic mail in their business communications.21.6% of them use the Internet for exchangingdocuments with clients, suppliers and others.20.7% use the Internet to participate in web-basedconferences, seminars or meetings. And a largemajority (71.3%) uses the Internet to search forbusiness opportunities. The percentage of womenbusiness owners who have websites for theirbusiness is 27.3%, which is considered a lowpercentage in this age of globalization.



them as a woman, and others (41.4%) thought thatbeing a woman made it more difficult to deal withnetworking and building informal businessrelationships with mentors, advisors and otherbusiness owners. Others (24%) found it difficultto manage male employees being a woman, while18.2% thought it was easier to manage femaleemployees being a woman. Women businessowners surveyed think that one of the mostpositive elements affecting their businesses istheir business' location (68%), and 66.7%expressed that their educational background had anet positive influence on their business.

VIII. Business and PersonalCharacteristics of Women Business Owners

Women business owners in Jordan are mostlyholders of academic degrees, college diplomas orhigher. Of those surveyed, 38.5% are between theage of 25 and 34 years of age, mostly welleducated. On average surveyed women businessowners have 3.24 children. More than a third(31.1%) of women business owners surveyedspend between 40 and 49 hours at work eachweek.

Most of the women-owned businesses are in thepersonal services sector (39%), followed by thenon-durable manufacturing sector such as foodand clothing (20%), and by wholesale/retail trade(15%).

Results show that Jordanian women businessowners have owned and operated in business foran average of 6 years. The percentage of womenwho owned businesses for less than five years is41.2%. Most of the surveyed women businessowners bought existing businesses (46.8%) orinherited their businesses (26.4%). Only 0.9%started their own business.

More than half (56.7%) of women businessowners report having one business partner, 30.6%report having two. Of the women surveyed, half(50.6 %) reported having a husband who isinvolved in the ownership and management of thebusiness. Women business owners also stated thatfamily members (22.0%) other than their parents

or children were involved in their business. Itshould be noted that, on average, women-ownedbusinesses surveyed employ 7.5 full-timeemployees and 3.98 part-time employees,indicating that the businesses are small in size.

Jordanian businesswomen also participate in non-governmental societies like the Jordan Forum forBusiness and Professional Women (8.78%), thepharmacy syndicate (7.21%), the JordanianWoman’s Union (6.98%), or Jordan Women'sGeneral Union (4.5%), indicating that Jordanianwomen business owners are professionally andsocially active.

IX. Recommendations

Promote women owned micro enterprisegrowth. Micro level and home-based womenbusinesses should be provided with incentives,technical and financial support to enable themto grow (and expand into the formal sector).

Facilitate women’s access to finance. Thiscould include streamlining procedures andminimizing required paper work to facilitatethe process for women business owners toapply for business loans.

Promote women business owners’ access tonew markets. Training on E-commerce that isrelevant to businesswomen could be one of thesolutions to help women business owner’sexport and import. Women businessassociations could support women businessowners by reaching out to women trainees andwomen markets.

Support women business owners’ skills andbusiness management knowledge. Thiscould be partly achieved by designing andimplementing local and internationalexchange programs for businesswomen,especially those who own startups and smallbusinesses.

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quantitative dimension of the survey. This 12minutes long Arabic documentary is about sevenLebanese women entrepreneurs in North Lebanonworking in different sectors. The pieceparticularly focuses on the challenges thesewomen face, how they established theirbusinesses, and what motivates them.

II. Business Sectors and WomenBusiness Owners’ Outlook

Of the women business owners surveyed, 35.1%work in the trade sector (retail and wholesale),and 31.7% of the businesses surveyed are in non-durable manufacturing (food, clothing, andcrafts). Most surveyed women business ownerhave attained secondary level/vocational schooleducation.

It bears comment that the survey interview period(May to October 2006) coincided with very tryingtimes in Lebanon. Despite being interviewedduring those circumstances, Lebanese womenbusiness owners remain largely optimistic andfocused on the future: 58.2% of surveyed womenresponded that they had positive expectations forthe economic growth of the country in theupcoming period, while 21.3% had a pessimisticoutlook. 67.3% of the surveyed women businessowners said that they are relatively optimisticabout the future growth of their business over thenext two years, 60% complained about higherprices of public services and utilities (e.g.electricity, water etc.), 43.5% about higher laborcosts, and 37.5% about political corruption andbribery within administrative institutions.

Asked about their plans in the next 12 months,40% of women business owners whose averageannual gross sales range between $ 5,000 and$ 25,000 said that they had no specific plans orgrowth projections; 53.3% of the ones whoseaverage annual gross sales are above $ 50,000said they are looking to penetrate new markets.This suggests that the impact of political events,the security situation, and the economicslowdown are affecting small enterprises morethan larger enterprises.


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Executive Country Report : Lebanon


As in other countries in the MENA region,women business owners make up a growing andimportant part of the economy in Lebanon. Thereis increasing realization that enhancing women’sparticipation in national economies promoteswomen’s economic empowerment and theirability to generate wealth and employment.

This report is based on a survey conducted by theLebanese Business Women Association (LBWA).There were several challenges in completing thesurvey. The survey coincided with the breakout ofwar in Lebanon in July 2006 which hamperedsurvey collection. In addition, a partneringresearch center (the Centre for DevelopmentStudies and Projects, MADMA) was notconfirmed until towards the end of the project.Despite these obstacles, LBWA continued to workon this survey to ensure that Lebanese womenbusiness owners were represented in the 5 countryreport. A group of university students were trainedby LBWA to conduct interviews initially in NorthLebanon, and then other parts of the country. Intotal, this survey benefited from a sample of about230 women business owners from differentLebanese regions.

It should also be noted that LBWA produced adocumentary featuring Lebanese womenentrepreneurs to further complement the

Lebanon

“We need networking and cooperation tobecome a pressure group to bring aboutdesirable change.”(Leila Karami, Lebanese Business WomenAssociation)"We hope this project will be a starting pointfor serious and effective decision making inorder to support women’s entrepreneurship in[Arab countries] and achieve economic andsocial development in our societies.” (Riad Tabbarah, Center for DevelopmentStudies, MADMA)


V. Entrance into new markets (Public relations, training sessions, anduse of technology)

Women business owners involved in this studyresponded that more training in public relationsmay help them open and penetrate new markets.Moreover, they have identified training oncorporate management, management patterns,and use of modern technology as useful tools todevelop and expand their businesses.

VI. Challenges and their impact onwomen business owners

Fifty-eight percent (58.2 %) of the surveyedwomen business owners launched their businessby themselves and the rest with the help of theirfamily or by purchasing an existing enterprise.Women business owners were divided over theissue whether being a woman makes it moredifficult for them to obtaining capital: 39% saidthat there is no obstacle, while about 32% said itis more difficult to obtain capital because they area woman.

Thirty-eight percent (38.8 %) said that thegreatest challenge being a woman is to balancework and family life.

VII. Business Size

Thirty-three percent (33.6%) of enterprisesinvolved in this study are deemed to be smallenterprises, where the average annual gross saleswere not more than $ 5,000 in 2005. However,almost half (48.7%) are considered small tomiddle size enterprises, with an average annualgross sales range between $ 5,000 to $ 50,000.The size of enterprise is related to the region andlocation of the enterprise. For example,enterprises that are operating in Beirut are morelikely to enjoy greater access to foreign marketsand are likely to have more experience with usingmodern technology tools.

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33% to 50 % of the surveyed businesses whoseaverage annual sales growth ranges between$ 5,000 and $ 25,000 said they want to maintainthe same size and direction of their business in thenext two years; 41% to 53% of the ones whoseaverage annual gross sales were above $ 25,000said they will consider expanding their businessby entering new markets.

III. Technology

Of the surveyed women business owners, 80.6%use mobile phones, 60.8% use computers, and48.3% use faxes. As for the Internet and e-mail,most women business owners are using them tocontact their children or friends abroad and tocatch up on news, while 21.6% use email toexchange documents with customers, suppliersand others.

Only 11.6% are conducting sales and purchasesvia the Internet, which means that womenbusiness owners typically do not trade through theweb on a large scale. No more than 19% of thesurveyed women business owners reported tohave a website.

IV. Financial Sources

Only 17% of women business owners currentlyhave any form of bank credit such as a loan or lineof credit. Fifty-four percent (54%) of womenbusiness owners are financing their activitiesthrough retained earnings; 28.4% are relying onprivate sources, such as savings, friends, andfamily; 10% are benefiting from a personal bankloan; and 10% are using a business/commercialbank loan. Sixteen percent (16%) of womenbusiness owners responded that high interest rateshave posed a problem to obtaining externalfinance for their businesses, while 22.8% reportedthat they did not encounter any difficulties inobtaining finance, and 35.8% did not seek anyexternal financing.



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VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations

In the context of the post-conflict situation inLebanon, there is much greater need for supportto women entrepreneurs. Women can continue toplay an important role in the economy and indeedparticipate in its reconstruction.

Promote polices and programs that supportwomen’s business ventures at all levels.At the micro enterprise level, womenentrepreneurs play an important role inalleviating poverty, and at the small andmedium enterprise level, women entrepreneurscan generate employment for other women andmen. Given that the survey results indicatethat many women business owners of smallenterprises are reluctant to make plans forbusiness expansion, policy makers shouldconsider promoting women business ownerswith targeted policies and programs.

Facilitate women business owner’s access tocapital. Anecdotal evidence frombusinesswomen seeking bank loans forbusiness start-up or expansion shows that theapplications procedures are often complicated,which serves as a disincentive for women toseek institutional finance. It may be useful toprovide women business owners with financialliteracy training that in return helps improvethe quality of their loan applications.

Promote women business owners’ access tomarkets. After the recent war in Lebanon,women business owners are in need ofdecreasing accumulated debt. Businesswomenassociations can help promote women’s accessto markets by setting-up a “commercial center”to promote the products of businesswomen,especially women in the micro and smallbusiness areas who produce and sell handicraftworks and food processing products.


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II. Findings

General information about the business

While the majority of respondents indicated thatthey had owned their businesses for over 5 years,over one-third (37.06%) of those respondingindicated that they have owned their businesses forless than 5 years. This strong representation ofenterprises with less than 5 years of existence canbe explained by taking into consideration thestructure of the Tunisian population, which isrelatively young (63% of the respondents indicatedthat they were less than 44-years old), as well asthe impact of Tunisian government programs,financing schemes and encouragement forentrepreneurs, in particular incentives for recentgraduates.

73.6% of respondents indicated that they hadstarted the business themselves; and over 55%indicated that they held 100% ownership in theenterprise. This important dynamic in the creationand structure of women-owned enterprise can beexplained, in part, by the fact that Tunisianwomen were emancipated over half a centuryago, granted their equal rights before the law, andhave the right to property, empowering them tocreate their own businesses without having to doit through or with the assistance of a malemember of the family.

In terms of other types of enterprise incorporationand ownership structures, respondents indicatedthat they are predominately family-ownedbusinesses, rather than publicly or privately ownedcorporations (only 5.6% indicated that they hadnon-related business partners). Respondentsindicated that their associates are for the most parttheir spouse (18.7%), followed by their parents(14.7%) , or other family members (9.1%).

Respondents indicated that they are active inalmost all sectors, with the exception of naturalresources. However, their enterprises predominatein three principal sectors: 41% in services(business and personal), 25% in non-durablemanufacturing (food, clothing, textiles) and 22%in wholesale and/or retail trade.

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Tunisia

“I expect the study to build grounds for futureprojects and to touch upon promising areas foryoung new businesswomen.” (Leila Khayat,Chambre Nationale des Femmes Chefsd’Entreprises)“The collaboration between professionals andresearchers is expected to be beneficial giventhe need for mutual knowledge sharingmechanisms in this critical area, at a nationaland regional level.” (Ali Ben Yahia, Institut Supérieur de Gestion)


Worldwide, women business owners arerecognised and considered an important force inthe economy. This is also recognised in Tunisia,where women contribute and participate not onlyat the economic level, but also in the cultural,educational, professional fields.

After a pre-test of the preliminary questionnaireamong 30 individuals, the final questionnaireused in the study was adapted and validated.The validated questionnaire was thenadministered to a first sample of Tunisianwomen business owners utilising face-to-faceinterview methods administered by teams ofinterviewers from the different regions of thecountry. This method did not prove efficientgiven the difficulty in obtaining interviews fornumerous reasons in particular the fact thatduring the months of July and August theTunisian work day is shortened, September was“back to school”, and coming on its heels wasthe holy month of Ramadan, ending at the endof October. To reach the objective of a sample of200 completed questionnaires, the informal selfadministered method was opted for andquestionnaires were distributed to the membersof the CNFCE (Chambre Nationale des FemmesChefs d’Entreprise) located in Tunis, Ariana,Manouba, Ben Arous, Sousse, Le Kef, Gabes,Sfax and Siliana. The final sample is composedof 197 women business owners from thedifferent major cities of the principal regions ofTunisia.

Executive Country Report : Tunisia

With Tunisia being an important tourismdestination and a society that retains its traditionsand cultural links, 10.7% of the respondentsindicated that their primary business washandicrafts.

The economic environment and importantissues faced

Almost half of the sample (46.2%) indicates thatthey are optimistic concerning the growth of thenational economy over the next two years, while25.4%, were neutral on the subject. Thisconfidence level can be explained in part by theconsistency in the Tunisian economic growth rate,which has averaged around 5% annually duringthe past decade, and the encouragement given bythe Tunisian government for the expansion of theprivate sector and incentives for newentrepreneurs. Yet close to one-third of therespondents were “somewhat” or “verypessimistic” (23% and 5%, respectively). Thiscan be explained in part by increased national andinternational competition, given the fast-approaching entry into the Tunisian-EuropeanUnion free trade zone and the strong presence ofthe Chinese in the global market.

When asked about growth and development at themicro enterprise level, 60.4% of the respondentsindicated that they are optimistic about the growthand development of their enterprise, while one-quarter were neutral, and just 13% werepessimistic. This optimism at the enterprise levelcan be explained in part by the fact that therespondents feel that they can have much moreinfluence on the performance of their ownenterprise rather than on the overall economy.This positive response is echoed by the indicationthat 38% of the sample intend to hire newemployees during the next 12 months.

Participants in the survey were requested toqualify, in order of importance, issues relative totheir business at the present time, broken downinto four distinct categories: businessmanagement, business climate, business laws andpractices, and personal growth.

Finding and keeping good employees seems tobe one of the most important factors for thewomen business owners, with more than 72% ofthe respondents attributing the greatestimportance to the excellence of workers and totheir efficiency and productivity.

Access to new markets through exporting orentry into new market segments is a highpriority. Almost 60% of respondents indicatedthat access to new markets was important,through international trade or selling to newkinds of customers. 49% of respondentsexpressed their intention to expand into newmarkets in the next 12 months and 28% to growtheir full-time business by expanding into newmarkets. 26% of respondents indicated theywere planning to maintain their full-timebusiness at its present size and level of activity.

Regarding the business climate, the highestconcern was given to the high cost of publicservices (electricity, water, telephone, etc.). Therespondents indicated that the preoccupation ofhaving a competitive product is very high. Tunisiasigned in 1995 a free trade accord with theEuropean Union, which provides for thescheduled dismantling by sector of activity oftrade and tariff barriers for products to (and from)the European Union, opening to a free trade zoneby the end of 2008. The Tunisian industry in thisrespect has been undergoing modernization andcompetitive upgrading, transforming the overallmakeup of the economic sector.

A great number of the respondents indicated thatthe issue of laws and regulations that hamperenterprise growth were important. The issuesreceiving high percentages (over 50%combined) for not very important or not at allimportant were business bribes and governmentcorruption, followed by access to property andland.

46% of respondents give a high priority ofimportance to the access to training andtechnical assistance to learn businessmanagement skills and


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an even higher level of importance (over 48%)is given to the need for the acquisition offinancial management skills to boost thegrowth of their business.

Responding to proposals for ways that nationalleaders could improve support for small businessin Tunisia:

46% of respondents think that national leadersshould set up special loan funds or loanguarantee schemes for small businesses. 35.5% think that national leaders couldprovide basic business skills training to newand prospective business owners.33% think that the amount of time required toregister and start a new business could bereduced and that government could exertgreater efforts to promote business ownershipin general with more marketing and publicawareness campaigns.31.5% think that employment laws should bechanged to allow for greater flexibility inhiring and firing.

Involvement in International trade

While close to 62% of respondents indicated thatthey neither import nor export (this can beexplained in part by the composition of sectors ofactivities, with 41% of respondents in the servicessector), 35.5% of respondents affirm they arecurrently exporting or importing goods and/orservices as part of their business. Just 11%indicated that they are exporting products orservices, while 6.6% say that they import andexport.

The principal destinations for exports, in order ofimportance, are: the USA, France, Libya, Italy,Algeria, Egypt, Germany, Senegal, Jordan, SaudiArabia, Portugal, Belgium, Guinea and Malaysia.With the exception of Tunisia’s traditionalmarkets of the European Union and the MiddleEast and North Africa (MENA) region, thecountries of the other regions represent newcustomer countries and indicate the preoccupationof exporters to diversify into several markets and

to avoid being too dependant on the Europeanmarket. In this respect the Tunisian government’sCEPEX (Center for the Promotion of Exports)and the Tunisian Government/WorldBank/FAMEX (Fonds d’Accès aux Marchésd’Exportation) program provide support toexporters, particular those targeting new markets.In terms of the countries the respondents areimporting goods from, ranking high are Tunisia’straditional trading partners, France and Italy. Thestudy also shows the presence of importing fromnew markets or non-traditional markets includingChina, India, Malaysia and Canada.

The use of business technology

Answers concerning the utilization of businesstechnology revealed a relatively low level ofinformation and communications technology(ICT) utilization at the workplace. ThoughTunisia has a strong ICT industry and was the firstAfrican and Arab country to have linked to theInternet, the country has lagged behind globally inacquisition, utilization and development of ICT atthe user level, in particular as a business,marketing and commercial tool. Internet access isrelatively expensive and not widely accessible inTunisia. Considering this environment, it isunderstandable that 82.2% of respondentsindicated that their enterprise does not have a website, and close to 40% of respondents indicatedthat they had never used the Internet.

Notwithstanding, the Internet is becoming aprogressively important element for business.50.8% of respondents indicated that they useelectronic mail and other Internet communication,33.5% indicated that they use the Internet forexchanging documents with customers, suppliersand others, and 28% indicated that they use theInternet for researching business opportunities.

In terms of the acquisition and utilization of othertools, 84.8% of respondents indicated that theyhave a cellular phone, 54.3% indicated that theyhave a fax machine, and 49.7% of respondentshave computers linked to a local area network(LAN).

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The types and sources of financing used

To meet their capital needs within the last 12months, 20.3% of respondents declared theyhave not sought external financing. Amongrespondent that did seek outside financing, over23% indicated that they sought financingthrough a business or commercial bank, while25.9% of respondents indicated that theyfinanced their capital needs through companyearnings. Concerning the situation encounteredwhen seeking outside financing in the past year,36% of respondents indicated that interest rateswere too high. Almost 20% indicated that theyhad not encountered any difficulties. In terms offinancing available to the enterprise, 46.7% ofrespondents indicated that they have a form ofbank credit, such as a loan or line of credit,while 50.8% of respondents indicated that theydo not have such mechanisms in place.

The majority of the respondents (66.5%)indicated that they are not likely to seek externalfinancing for operating expenses, such asmanaging payroll and cash flow or to finance thepurchase of another business during the next twoyears. In terms of financing expansion into newmarkets, 23% indicated that it was very likely,while 30% indicated that it was somewhat likelythat they would seek external financing.

Questioned about seeking advice for makingimportant business decisions, the majority ofrespondents indicated that they are more likelyto turn to their husband or other family membersinvolved in the business, to a financial advisoror accountant, before turning to senior managersor key employees in their enterprises. This canbe explained by the structure of Tunisianbusinesses, which are for the most part family-owned and operated.

Except for learning more about getting involvedin policy issues and advocacy, the respondentsfind that it is helpful meeting regularly with otherwomen business owners across the country toshare ideas/experiences, training sessions on

financial management issues, training sessions onbusiness management and leadership issues,learning more about how to use technology togrow business, learning more about how to accessnew markets, at home and abroad. They are alsointerested in participating in organized trips toother countries to meet with other womenbusiness owners and their organizations toimprove business growth and success.

Asked if they were members of business orprofessional associations, the respondentsindicated the following: 13.7% are a member ofprofessional association, 8.6% are a member ofmixed chamber of commerce, 7.11% are amember of the Tunisian Chamber of Commerce,9.6% are a member of the CNFCE (NationalChamber of Women Entrepreneurs), and 4.6% area member in a sectoral federation. Othermembership organizations mentioned are the CJD(Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants d’Entreprise)- acenter for business owners under 40 years-old-and UNFT (Union Nationale de la FemmeTunisienne) -a general women’s organization.

Challenges and obstacles

Balancing work and family life and dealing withbribes and payoffs were the only issues that thewomen indicated were more challenging for thembecause they are women. For most respondentsbeing a woman made no difference (55.33%) orwas an advantage (35%), while just 7% indicatedthat it was a disadvantage in running theirbusiness.

General information about the womenbusiness owners and their enterprise

Tunisian women business owners are relativelyyoung, with 63% of the survey sample beingless than 44 years old. For the majority of therespondents, managing the responsibilities ofbeing a business owner does not prevent themfrom having a family life (72% of women aremarried and 56% have more than twochildren).


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In terms of levels of education (in Tunisiaeducation is obligatory and is free for males andfemales through university level), the majority ofrespondents indicated that they have obtained auniversity diploma (55%), and 25% havecompleted secondary or post-secondary studies.

The majority of women-owned companies arelocated in the greater Tunis area (Tunis, Ariana)(49% ), followed by Sousse (16.8%) and Sfax(12.2%). 83.2% of the respondents affirm that theirbusiness is not primarily operated out of theirhome. In terms of the size of the business, 61%indicated turnover of less than 49,999 TunisianDinars.

III. Conclusions

The major concerns expressed in the study thatneed to be addressed to empower women businessowners include:

foreign competition and the competitiveness ofwomen business owners’ enterprises, finding and keeping good employees, high costs of public utilities, laws that hamper enterprise growth, improving business management skills, expanding to new markets, includinginternationally,loan funds or schemes for small businesses.

Finally, ICT is likely to play an important role inaddressing certain concerns noted above. Giventhat the country is opening to free-trade in 2008,more efforts should be undertaken to encouragethe use of the Internet as a means of strategicintelligence gathering, as a window to foreignmarkets, and as a way to build internationalpartnerships. Beyond training and promotionalcampaigns to sensitise business owners on themerits of ICT, improved infrastructure andfacilities and more accessible up-to-dateservices should be offered not only to the firmsthat intend to internationalise their activities,but also to local SMEs.

IV. Recommendations

Improve access to information for womenentrepreneurs as key element to ensure thedevelopment of their companies. Theinformation could be in relation to the existingtraining services in the market, availablesources of financing and credit lines, andgeneral business information.

Extend support services to women businessowners towards export promotion. Suchtargeted support could be provided to womenbusiness owners by existing institutions andorganizations. It could include the creation of awebsite for luxury and high level qualityhandicraft products marketed by small womenbusiness owners, which typically do not havethe means to create their own websites, giventhe existing demand for these products.

Promote training opportunities whichsupport women-owned companies’ growthand development. Offered training servicescould focus on enhancing women businessowners’ communication skills necessary forinternational trade, such as how to use ICT,improve language skills, etc.

Facilitate women business owners’ accessto sources of financing. Organizednetworking activities could focus onlearning from each other’s experiencestowards enhancing women’s financialmanagement and financial literacy skills.

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travel and tourism services. In addition, some ofthe respondents who chose the “other” categoryoffer education, health or real estate services, witha total of over 50% of businesses in the servicesector. There is a wide variety of businessesowned and operated by women, includingprofessional musical performances, relocationconsulting, personal shopping services, corporateevent planning, and market research. Of thewomen owned businesses in the non-servicessector, the largest industry is wholesale and retail.

Most of the country’s economic activity takesplace in Dubai and Abu Dhabi which are also thetwo locations and the most active women’sassociations of the UAE. According to an IFCreport, 74% of the 2.1 million registeredbusinesses in the UAE are located in Abu Dhabiand Dubai (Webster, 2005). Hence, these twomain economic centers were chosen as targetgroup for the research study. According to thesurvey results, 71% of the surveyed women-owned businesses operate in Dubai, 26% operatein Abu Dhabi and only 3% operate in Sharjah.

The surveyed women-owned companies cover avariety of sizes as indicated by reported gross salesfigures, but the majority of companies are relativelysmall, with 62% of the businesses having grosssales of less than AED 367,000 per year. This is alsoreflected in the numbers of employees. In general,the women-owned companies do not have manyemployees: 28% have no full time employees and50% have no part time employees, 68% have lessthan 10 full time employees, and 82% have nounpaid employees.

54% of the surveyed women run their businessesfrom home. The percentage of home-runbusinesses owned by nationals is slightly higherat 58%. This is very different from Abu Dhabi,where a full 92% of the surveyed women-ownedbusinesses are run from home.

III. Personal Characteristics of the Women Business Owners

The respondents reflect a good cross-section ofbusiness owners. 26% of the respondents arebetween 25-34 years of age, 44% are between35-44 years of age, and 26% are between 45-54years of age.


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Executive Country Report : UAE

United Arab Emirates

“We need this type of study to assess the needsof businesswomen in the training field, to buildtheir capacities and encourage young women toenter the business and entrepreneurship sector."(Monica Gallant, Dubai Women’s College)"We expect this project to provide significantinsights into areas for economic developmentand future opportunities for womenentrepreneurs in the UAE and other countries." (Raja Easa Al Gurg, Dubai Business WomenCouncil)


In the UAE, the Dubai Women’s College has ledthis research effort, in cooperation with the DubaiBusinesswomen’s Council and support from theAbu Dhabi Business Women Association. 110completed surveys primarily from Abu Dhabi andDubai were collected for analysis.

II. Business Characteristics

The businesses owned by women in this surveytend to be young, with 66% being in operation for1-5 years, although the range is wide withcompanies being in operation from less than 1year to 38 years. The surveyed women arerelatively new to business with 56% having beena business owner for less than 5 years. 95% of thebusinesses were started by the business ownerherself. Almost half of the women businessowners reported that they own 100% of thebusiness, and only 12% reported owning less than50%. Of the businesses that were not 100%owned, about half reported that there was only 1additional owner, with 26% reporting that theadditional owner was their husband.

“Dubai is a growing market and the number ofevents held is on the increase. This is a greatmarket to launch products and introduce newservices: therefore, we offer creativity, innovationand simplicity in creating the best distinguishedevents.” (Huda Serhan, Event Organizer)

The largest percentage of the businesses ownedby the participants is in the service sector with26% of businesses offering business services,17% offering personal services, and 2% offering


The surveyed women represent a variety ofnationalities, which also reflects the multiculturalnature of the UAE. 47% of the women areEmirati, 25% are European, and 28% have othernationalities including Lebanese, South African,American, and many others. These ratios are inline with earlier conducted research thatconcluded that about 55% of businesswomen inDubai are Emirati (Stensgaard, 2002).

Of the women surveyed, 68% are married and60% of the women have children of various ages.While 41% of the respondents indicated that theirmarital status had no effect on their business,several women listed receiving helpful familysupport and gaining community respect aspositive benefits from being married. The onlynegative effect seemed related to the time neededto fulfill family obligations which ties in with thefinding that the greatest challenge for a woman inbusiness is to balance work and family life.According to the survey, 61% of the respondentsfelt that balancing work and family life is morechallenging as a woman.

The women surveyed are generally very welleducated, with 73% having a college degree or apost graduate degree. Many women reported thisas having a positive influence on the operations oftheir business. The high level of educationalattainment can be explained by two main factors:the level of education for expatriate women ishigh due to the residency requirements in theUAE favoring professionals, and the level ofeducation of Emirati women is also very highwith free government education provided up tobachelor levels.

The women in the survey tend to work manyhours at their businesses despite many reportingthat they have other jobs as well: 25% of therespondents said that they work more than 60hours per week at their business, and 64%reported working more than 40 hours per week.57% of the surveyed women mentioned beinginvolved in other wage or salary work in additionto running their businesses.

With regard to business membership organization,many surveyed women reported to belong to anumber of different organizations: 27% belong to

the Dubai Business Women’s Council, 19%belong to the Abu Dhabi Business Women’sAssociation, 6% belong to the Sheikh MohammadEstablishment for Young Business Leaders, and36% belong to a variety of other organizationsincluding the International Business Women’sGroup, the Dubai Quality Group, and specialtygroups like the Engineering Society. Therelatively high level of association membership isnot surprising since the data was collected withthe cooperation of these associations.

IV. International Trade Activities

“One of my most important business concerns isthe change in currency rates of the Euro” (ReemAl Mowaiji, Gulf Gifts which imports fromGermany).

Almost half of the survey participants areinvolved in international trade activities: 8%export only, 18% import only, and 21% bothexport and import. 53% of the participantsindicated that they did not import or export. Thestatistics were not significantly different bynationality. It should also be noted that there wassignificantly less international trade activityreported by surveyed business women from AbuDhabi. These results are not surprising as Dubaihas a very strong import/export tradition and awell-developed infrastructure for internationaltrade that includes large ports, a high-capacityinternational airport, and several free-trade zones.

The top four regions for surveyed women ownedbusiness imports are: 40% Europe, 19% USA orCanada, 14% Asia, 13% India or Pakistan. Thetop four regions for surveyed women ownedbusiness exports are: 26% Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) countries, 14% Europe, 14%Iran/Iraq, and 12% Africa.

V. Use of Technology

“We have the latest in technology. We care aboutquality results and so we have equipped our officewith state-of-the-art technology - from laserequipment to Hi tech CAD CAM technology forthe single visit fabrication of dental ceramicrestorations” (Dr. Hibah Shata, Specialised DentalClinic).

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Overall, the respondents reported a very high useof technology. 94% of the surveyed women use acomputer in their business with less than 1%reporting that they have never used the Internet.86% of the surveyed women use email, and manyuse the Internet for research and documentexchange. 64% of the respondents have a web site,however, there is a significant difference based onnationality: 46% of nationals have a web site,while 88% of expatriates reported having a website.

VI. Access to and Use of Financing

Most of the women in the survey used their ownor their family’s savings to finance the businessand many also used the earnings from thebusiness. The following are the four highestfinancing sources of the surveyed women ownedbusinesses: earnings (39%), savings (44%), creditcards (21%), and commercial bank loans (19%).Of the women surveyed, 38% did not seekexternal financing during the past year. Thereasons for the lack of financing varied, but 28%reported that they found that interest rates weretoo high.

“My greatest challenge is dealing with banks inorder to set up accounts, etc. It is difficult eachtime we need to open a new account, in addition tothe initial account, and I have to get our sponsor’ssignature for every move. Our sponsor is awonderful person but travels often so it is difficultto get in contact with him – also when he is intown, he works quite far from the centre so it isoften a nightmare getting to him with all thetraffic! I have Power of Attorney from him but thebanks still insist on his original signature” (SuhaWilson, I Quit Smoking).

66% of the surveyed women have no active bankcredit. Of those that did report having lines ofcredit, 57% have less than AED 367000 credit and27% have between AED 367000-1835000. Therelatively low levels of credit may be related to thefact that approximately 50% of the businesses arein the service sector (which possibly require lesscapital investment). Other possible reasons forlow levels of credit are the above-mentionedperceived high interest rates and the relativelyyoung age of many of the businesses. In terms oftheir future plans, 68% of the respondents noted

that they were likely or somewhat likely to lookfor financing for expansion of capital and 70% forexpansion into new markets.

VII. Economic Outlook, Future Plans and Goals

“My priorities are to help woman entrepreneursand businesswomen to progress in their respectivebusinesses and to encourage more and morewomen to get into business as this is the right timeto do business due to the economic boom inDubai” says Raja Al Gurg, President of the DubaiBusiness Women’s Council (Nair, 2005).

In general, the surveyed women displayed a veryoptimistic outlook about the economy and theirown businesses. Concretely, survey resultsindicate that 89% of the surveyed womengenerally feel optimistic about the economy and90% feel optimistic about their business. In termsof future plans, the survey participants werefocused on growth and expansion, with 45% of thewomen stating that their main goal is to expandtheir business through earning more revenues orincreasing employment, 28% reporting a goal ofexpanding their business through tapping into newmarkets, and 12% planning to grow their businessfrom a part time to a full time venture.

Specific plans for the next 12 months includeactivities that support growth and expansion. Themost common plans reported are:

67% plan to expand into new markets;64% plan to hire new employees;46% plan to increase capital investment;21% plan to seek support from thegovernment; and 19% plan to seek a foreign business partner.

Only 16% of the surveyed women reported a “waitand see” attitude and very few women mentionedany plans for reduction in employment or capitalinvestment.

To determine how to best offer assistance tobusiness women, the survey asked the respondentsto note the most important issues for them. Onebusiness owner, Lina Nahhas, Chief OperatingOfficer of YouGovSiraj, demonstrated heroptimistic approach to challenges saying, “When


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asked about problems I face as a company owner,I always smile, as I see these as no more thanexciting challenges to overcome.”

According to the survey, the four most importantchallenges reported were: high cost of rent,finding and keeping good employees, learningfinancial management skills, and gaining access totechnology. When looking at the same question bynationality, some differences emerge: fornationals, finding and keeping good employees isnot as important as having access to training forbusiness skills. For expatriates, learning financialmanagement skills is not as important as gainingaccess to new markets.

“Anyone who has tried to set up in the franticworld of business in Dubai knows the headache ofrunning around from one department to another toget papers approved and documents attested. Evenwith the headways in efficiency that the Dubaigovernment has made, knowing exactly what isneeded and where to go is always made easier bysomeone in the know” (Michelle Kruger, Al EssaMarketing Management).

The women were asked how national leaderscould improve support for small businesses in theUAE. The following four points were listed asbeing the most important areas to be addressed:

1. 46% suggested to set up special loan fundsor loan guarantee schemes;2. 38% recommended to reduce the amount ofmoney it takes to register a business; 3. 36% stated that a change of employmentlaws would help increase business flexibilityfor hiring and replacing workers; and 4. 32% asked for an establishment of a specialgovernment advisory board for women’sbusiness development issues.

Recommendations varied by nationality: nationalsfeel that points 1 and 4 were more important thanothers. This may be explained by the fact that theyas nationals desire more support from their owngovernment. On the other hand, expatriates ratedpoints 2 and 3 above as more important, perhapsbecause regulations and procedures applied in theareas of business registration and employment arestricter for expatriates than for nationals.

VIII. Access to Advice and Training

The businesswomen surveyed did not report thatthey consulted with many individuals veryfrequently. However, the surveyed women seek outadvice. The following are the most importantsources of advice: 77% consult seniormanagement, 77% consult with other businessowners, 64% with an accountant, 58% with theirhusband or family members in the business, 53%with an attorney, and 52% with an informal mentor.

“By attending the business courses run by theBusiness Women’s Council and other trainingcenters, I shaped my business skills. I also learneda lot from the audio tapes and DVD’s of expertsand leaders in business” (Dr. Hibah Shata,Specialised Dental Clinic).

All of the surveyed women were in favor oftraining and support to help to improve theirbusiness’ growth and success. The top four areaslisted by both nationals and expatriates as beingthe most useful are:

Learning more about how to access newmarkets at home and abroad;Training sessions on business management andleadership issues;Meeting regularly with other women businessowners across the country to share ideas andexperiences; andLearning more about how to use technology togrow the business.

IX. Social Roles

“When working in my business, I rarely thinkabout my gender, I have to make the samedecisions, take the same responsibilities and lookafter the same staff. Who said that we have aneasier job? The only difference between a femaleentrepreneur and a male one is that the maleentrepreneur has a longer time to reflect on whathe would like to achieve, we on the other handhave to think of our second job at home, hence inmy opinion, this is why male entrepreneurs dobetter. I don't want to run away from thisresponsibility, but I think that a culture of sharingshould be started in our community" (SuadAlHalwachi, EZone).

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In general, the surveyed women did not feel thatbeing a woman was more challenging for them asbusiness owners. More than 50% reported thatbeing a woman made no difference to theirbusiness performance, other than balancing workand family. On the issue of work and family lifebalance, 61% of the women reported that this ismore challenging as a woman.

Other issues that were considered to be slightlymore challenging to deal with as a woman weregaining access to capital (27%), being takenseriously (35%), dealing with bureaucracy (30%),networking (30%), and dealing with corruption(41%). Being a woman was also viewed as anadvantage by some when working with customers(21%) and managing female employees (17%).

“In the past 30 years, a steady transformation hastaken place where more and more Arab women aretaking on professional roles. It is important tohighlight that women are just as capable ofsucceeding in the business world as men, and thatArab women are just as competent as theirWestern counterparts” notes Raja Al GurgPresident of the Dubai Business Women’sCouncil, (Golden, 2005).

To assess the level of perceived discrimination, aquestion was asked whether a variety of personalcharacteristics had a positive, negative or noinfluence on the business. For all issues, mostwomen reported either no difference or a positiveinfluence. Adding both the “no difference” and“positive influence” categories together, thefollowing results emerge:

Being a woman 92% (52% no difference)Age 89%Education 96% (67% positive influence)Nationality 90% (54% positive influence)Marital status 94%Business location 93% (60% positiveinfluence)

Given these figures, it is clear that the surveyedwomen generally do not perceive any negativegender discrimination. It should also be noted thatnationality was not being viewed as negativeinfluence by nationals and expatriates alike.

X. Conclusions and Recommendations

Facilitate women business owners' access tocapital. Policy makers should investigateproviding more financial funding support towomen business owners and should considerthe establishment of a special advisory board topromote the development of femaleentrepreneurship. Financial institutions canalso benefit from this research by recognizingthe significant growth plans of the surveyedwomen business owners and explore ways tofacilitate their access to capital.

Support training that is relevant to womenbusiness owners. Entrepreneurial supportgroups and training providers should note thattheir services in terms of networking, supportand training are in high demand by femaleentrepreneurs who desire more skills inbusiness management, financial management,leadership, and technology. When designingand scheduling training courses, providersshould keep in mind the heavy demands thatfemale entrepreneurs have on their time withlong hours spent on business, significantsalaried work obligations, and familyrequirements.

Promote a female entrepreneurial culture.UAE businesswomen of all ages andnationalities should gain confidence byrealizing that they share many similar issuesand concerns and that they also maintain auniversally positive outlook about theeconomy, their business and themselves as abusiness owner. While the majority of womenreport the difficult challenge of balancing workand family lives, they also report that they areable to manage and gain significant satisfactionfrom their accomplishments. The media canalso play an important role in profiling businesswomen, advocating their rights and promotingtheir accomplishments. This will help raiseawareness of the important contributionbusinesswomen can make to the local andnational economy.


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Acknowledgements

This capacity building project and resulting analysis report would not have been possible withoutthe passion and commitment of a number of people and organizations. While the project wasconceived by the International Finance Corporation’s Gender Entrepreneurship Markets

initiative (IFC-GEM) and managed by the Center for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR),many people were involved in making this project a success.

The IFC and CAWTAR would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following persons andorganizations, and offer our profound thanks for their involvement:

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Acknowledgements

CAWTARSoukeina Bouraoui, Executive DirectorHela Gharbi, Project CoordinatorAtidel Mejbri, Information and Communication OfficerLobna Najjar, JournalistHekmet Zouari, Finance and Administration Officer

BAHRAINEbrahim Al Rumaihi, Bahrain Centre for Studies andResearch Nada Fawzi Al Shehabi, Bahrain BusinesswomenSocietyNada Al Wadi, @NGED member, Journalist, Alwasat

JORDANAbeer Dababneh, Women’s Studies Center, Universityof JordanAmal El Kharouf, Women’s Studies Center, Universityof JordanRula Quawas, Women’s Studies Center, University ofJordanRana El Akhal, Jordan Forum for Business andProfessional WomenMahassen Al-Imam, @NGED member, Journalist, ArabWomen Media Centre

LEBANONLeila Karami, Lebanese Business Women AssociationRiadh Tabbara, MADMALara Barazi, MADMACathy Skaff, MADMARoula Mickael, @NGED member, Journalist, Ennahar Mona Chemali Khalaf, Economist and Gender Expert Members of the Lebanese League for Women inBusiness

IFC GEMAmanda Ellis, Head, IFC GEMCarmen Niethammer, Program Manager, IFC PEP-MENAGEMJozefina Cutura, Program Officer, IFC GEMThuan Thi Phuong Le, Consultant, IFC GEMDania Gharaibeh, Research Analyst, IFC PEP-MENAGEMTania Saeed, Consultant, IFC PEP-MENA GEMShaheen Sidi Mohamed, Regional Coordinator, IFC PEP-MENA GEMDalia Mawsouf, Program Assistant, IFC PEP-MENA GEMJulie Weeks, Womenable, IFC consultant

TUNISIAFatma Choura, ISGMeriem Daldoul, ISGDouja Gharbi, CNFCETereza Hagerstrom-Danan, FCEMLeila Khayat, CNFCEMourad Touzani, ISGAli Ben Yahia, ISGDouha Talik, @NGED member, Journalist, TAP

UNITED ARAB EMIRATESMonica Gallant, Dubai Women’s CollegeRaja Easa Al Gurg, Dubai Businesswomen CouncilMariam Al Romaithy, Abu Dhabi Business Women’sAssociationRawda Al Mutawa, Abu Dhabi Businesswomen CouncilRaed Daoudi, Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment forYoung Business LeadersHoward Reed, Dubai Women’s CollegeSue-Sharyn Ward, International Business Women’s GroupLeila Hashem Yacoun, @NGED member, Journalist,Dorrat Al Imarat Magazine

PEER REVIEWERSElena Bardasi, PREM Gender and Development Group,The World BankNadereh Chamlou, Office of the Chief Economist, MENARegion,The World Bank Elwathig Kameir, Expert in SME Development

In planning for this regional study, the country teams met together to discuss and agree upon mutualgoals and areas of interest, and to define common objectives and methodologies. As such, a commonsurvey instrument template was agreed upon, although it was agreed that it could be adapted to

better reflect local concerns and conditions. The following is a summary of all of the overall findingsfrom the surveys, highlighting the questions asked in all, or nearly all, countries.

COMBINED SUMMARY OF SURVEY RESULTS: WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS IN BAHRAIN, JORDAN, LEBANON, TUNISIA

AND THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

(Numbers below are percent responses unless otherwise specified.Number of completed interviews: Bahrain, 245; Jordan, 444;

Lebanon, 232; Tunisia, 197; UAE, 110)

First, please tell us a little bit about your business. Again, if you own more than one business pleaserefer to your primary business when answering these questions.

1. How many years have you owned this business?

2. How many years in total have you been a business owner – including the ownership ofprevious businesses?

3. How did you acquire ownership of this business? Did you ...?

4. What percent of this business do you personally own? (CHECK ONE)

Survey Instrument and Question Results


60

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 24 49 33 40 56 Less than 5 years 35 37 22 24 24 5 to 9 years 32 9 30 23 16 10 to 19 years

7 5 16 12 4 20 years or more 2 * 0 0 0 No answer

10.2 6.1 10.6 8.6 5.9 Average number of years in business

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 28 41 24 37 56 Less than 5 years 30 35 19 25 13 5 to 9 years 32 13 34 25 22 10 to 19 years

8 5 16 13 9 20 years or more 2 5 8 0 0 No answer

9.0 6.5 12.3 9.3 6.7 Average number of years in business

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 66 * 46 74 95 Start the business yourself 13 47 14 11 2 Purchase an existing business 14 26 14 8 3 Inherit the business

6 7 26 8 1 Acquire the business without a personal investment (such as through marriage)

-- 11 -- -- -- Any other way 1 8 0 0 0 No answer

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 6 8 22 17 12 Less than 50%

17 31 21 15 21 50% 16 16 12 11 17 51 -99% 59 48 41 55 48 100%

2 1 4 2 2 No answer


5. (IF LESS THAN 100%:) How many people, in addition to yourself, have ownership ofthis business?

6. (IF LESS THAN 100%:) Are any of the following individuals involved in the ownershipand management of this business? (Multiple responses allowed)

7. How many hours per week do you typically spend managing this business?

8. In addition to your work in this business, are you involved in any wage and salary work,or the management of any other business? management of any other business?

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Bahrain (101)

Jordan (250)

Lebanon (136)

Tunisia (81)

UAE (55)

54 57 52 54 46 One additional owner 29 31 33 25 31 Two additional owners 18 11 15 21 16 Three or more additional owners

0 2 0 0 7 No answer

Bahrain (101)

Jordan (250)

Lebanon (136)

Tunisia (81)

UAE(55)

43 51 49 45 26 Husband 22 12 12 35 9 Parent(s)

6 8 15 10 4 Child/Children 28 22 25 21 16 Other family members -- * 0 13 0 Other non-related

individuals(optional) 1 7 0 2 45 No answer

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 7 18 5 16 10 Less than 20 hours

21 30 22 21 25 20 to 40 hours 19 31 30 24 22 40 to 49 hours 29 11 23 15 16 50 to 59 hours 25 9 17 21 24 60 or more hours

0 * 2 4 4 No answer

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 52 14 10 15 54 Yes 43 79 82 81 41 No

5 8 9 4 6 No answer

9. In what industry is your primary business?

Next, we’d like to learn about some of the important issues you are currently facing in yourbusiness…

10. What is your outlook on the prospects for growth of the COUNTRY economy overthe next two years? Would you say you are …?

11. What is your outlook for the growth and development of your own business overthe next two years? Would you say you are …? (CHECK ONE)


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Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 1 6 2 1 1 Agriculture * * * 0 0 Natural resource development (oil, gas, coal)

18 20 32 25 5 Non-dur able manufacturing (food, clothing, crafts) 4 1 3 3 1 Durable manufacturing (machines, steel, tires, other)

18 15 32 22 15 Wholesale/retail trade 6 3 8 4 2 Services – travel/tourism 7 4 3 6 26 Services – business services

28 39 11 31 17 Services – per sonal services3 5 1 2 7 Technology/ICT-- -- -- 11 -- Handicrafts-- 2 -- -- -- Education -- 2 -- -- -- Medical

15 0 4 0 25 Other* 2 3 1 3 No answer

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 14 21 9 7 59 Very optimistic 44 34 49 40 28 Somewhat optimistic 38 28 20 25 7 Neutral

4 12 13 23 4 Somewhat pessimistic 0 4 9 5 0 Very pessimistic * * 0 1 2 No answer

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 23 28 15 14 67 Very optimistic 46 38 52 47 21 Somewhat optimistic 29 21 18 26 4 Neutral

2 10 8 9 5 Somewhat pessimistic * 4 5 4 2 Very pessimistic * * 1 1 2 No answer



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12. How important are each of the following issues for you in your business at the present time? (CHECK ONE ANSWER FOR EACH ISSUE)

Not at all important

Not very important

Some -what

important

Very impor-

tant

Extremely important N/A

Avg. (1-5)

Business Management a. Access to capital for your business

Bahrain 2 8 41 40 8 2 3.46 Jordan 2 8 16 23 49 2 4.11 Lebanon 1 2 9 43 36 9 4.22 Tunisia 11 21 27 26 10 5 3.04 UAE 3 10 26 30 26 5 3.70

b.

Finding and keeping good employees

Bahrain 1 3 23 53 19 * 3.86 Jordan 10 7 22 28 32 3 3.68 Lebanon 8 3 5 41 30 13 3.94 Tunisia 6 4 17 39 33 0 3.92 UAE 5 4 7 34 47 4 4.20 c. Low efficiency and productivity Bahrain 1 5 33 40 15 6 3.67 Jordan 7 11 20 29 27 6 3.63 Lebanon 6 3 4 40 33 15 4.07 Tunisia 2 7 18 39 31 4 3.92 UAE 6 7 18 30 26 12 3.71 d. Access to new markets, such as international trade or selling to new kinds of customers Bahrain 4 7 27 43 19 * 3.66 Jordan 19 11 15 20 31 4 3.34 Lebanon 9 2 8 29 42 11 4.03 Tunisia 10 6 21 34 26 4 3.63 UAE 6 4 13 33 42 4 4.06 Business Climate e. Competition from other countries Bahrain 13 16 29 33 8 1 3.07 Jordan 31 14 16 18 18 4 2.76 Lebanon 12 3 6 25 39 16 3.92 Tunisia 6 15 24 26 28 1 3.57 UAE 16 18 18 26 16 6 3.11 f. High cost of public services (electricity, water, telephones, etc) Bahrain 8 13 25 33 19 2 3.44 Jordan 3 7 14 30 44 3 4.08 Lebanon 2 2 2 24 67 3 4.58 Tunisia 3 10 26 31 29 2 3.73 UAE 6 6 22 34 26 6 3.71 g. Gaining access to technology for your business Bahrain 8 13 23 36 18 2 3.44 Jordan 5 7 18 32 35 3 3.88 Lebanon 7 5 5 29 38 15 4.01 Tunisia 8 25 19 27 19 1 3.25 UAE 1 5 16 32 39 7 4.12 h. High cost of labor Bahrain 6 12 15 39 23 5 3.64 Jordan 5 7 19 32 35 2 3.85 Lebanon 5 7 8 27 51 3 4.15 Tunisia 8 14 31 31 12 5 3.28 UAE 4 11 13 31 32 10 3.85 h. High cost of rent UAE 0 3 5 21 42 29 4.45



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Business Laws, Practices

i. Laws and regulations that hamper your businessí growth Bahrain 4 4 30 41 18 3 3.67 Jordan 7 8 19 32 31 3 3.75 Lebanon 8 5 6 31 34 19 3.89 Tunisia 9 18 28 34 8 4 3.13 UAE 1 9 14 30 40 6 4.06 j. Business payoffs/bribes

Bahrain 10 19 22 30 15 3 3.20 Jordan 10 7 24 33 21 5 3.49 Lebanon 13 2 6 19 32 28 3.78 Tunisia 40 21 14 10 9 6 2.23 UAE 21 7 13 22 19 18 3.13

k. Corruption among government officialsBahrain 11 15 23 31 17 3 3.29 Jordan -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Lebanon 7 3 6 21 48 16 4.20 Tunisia 39 24 13 10 6 8 2.14 UAE 19 9 13 16 26 16 3.26 l. Access to property and land Bahrain 14 19 14 32 17 4 3.21 Jordan 11 7 10 25 42 5 3.8 3 Lebanon 10 2 6 24 30 28 3.86 Tunisia 21 28 16 18 8 8 2.60 UAE 11 6 11 17 39 16 3.80 Personal Growth m. Access to training and technical assistance to learn business management skills Bahrain 6 7 34 35 19 * 3.54 Jordan 4 10 17 29 38 2 3.88 Lebanon 7 2 12 39 34 6 3.99 Tunisia 11 11 30 26 20 3 3.34 UAE 5 5 12 33 38 8 4.04 n. Learning financial management skills to grow your business Bahrain 6 7 23 42 21 * 3.66 Jordan 2 7 16 28 45 2 4.09 Lebanon 2 5 8 27 44 14 4.25 Tunisia 11 14 25 31 17 3 3.30 UAE 2 3 14 31 43 8 4.20

13. Are there any more important issues in your business at the present time that are notlisted above? If so, please write them below.

--

Bahrain Not asked

--

Tunisia Not asked

4 2

2 5 3

87

Jordan Local or foreign competition Society’s awareness of input of women’s work Political events All others (<1% each) Nothing No answer

21 76

3

UAE Various answers (none significant) Nothing No answer

--

Lebanon Not asked



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14. During the next 12 months, will your business ...? (Multiple responses allowed)

15. Which of the following comes closest to describing your goal for your business overthe next two years?

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 17 19 11 11 6 To maintain my business as a part-time venture

to supplement household income 12 30 8 11 13 To grow my business from a part-time venture

to a full -time business 23 4 34 26 4 To maintain my full-time business at its present

size and level of activity 12 13 16 15 42 To expand my full-time business by increasing

revenues and/or employment 34 15 25 28 26 To expand my full-time business by expanding

into new markets 1 3 3 7 3 To sell or close my business 1 16 3 3 7 No answer

16. Here are some ways that national leaders could improve support for small businessesin COUNTRY. From the list below, please check the THREE MOST IMPORTANT areasthat you feel should be addressed.

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 21 42 21 34 22 Reduce the amount of time it takes to register

and start a new business 18 38 45 24 37 Reduce the amount of money it takes to register

a new business 33 26 24 36 23 Provide basic business skills training to new

and prospective business owners 33 22 19 15 11 Provide special business skills training for

women only 20 15 26 30 32 Establish a special government advisory board

for women’s business development issues 35 17 35 31 35 Change employment laws to increase business

flexibility for hiring and replacing workers 21 26 19 22 14 Make it easier to register and transfer property

ownership 39 31 45 46 45 Set up special loan funds or loan guarantee

schemes for small businesses 44 37 28 33 30 Promote business ownership in general with

more marketing and public awareness efforts 35 19 23 14 26 Establish goals for government purchasing of

goods and services from small businesses * * 4 1 5 Other 0 0 0 3 10 No answer

Bahrain* Jordan Lebanon * Tunisia UAE 15 44 11 38 64 Hire new employees 14 57 13 35 46 Increase capital investment 20 28 20 49 67 Expand into new markets

8 10 3 29 19 Seek out a foreign partner 4 13 13 18 21 Seek special aid or support from the

government 1 4 3 7 3 Reduce employment * 2 * 3 3 Reduce capital investment 0 * 0 2 2 Close any business locations

36 26 36 23 16 Wait and see, keeping employment and investment about the same

0 4 0 1 2 Other 2 0 2 1 0 No answer


* Not asked as a multiple response question


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17. Are you now exporting or importing any goods or services in your business?

18a. (IF EXPORTING:) To what country or countries are you exporting your goods and/or services? (Multiple responses allowed)

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 59 74 68 61 52 No

4 6 3 11 8 Yes, exporting goods/services 26 10 18 18 17 Yes, importing goods/services

9 6 5 7 21 Yes, both importing and exporting 3 4 7 3 2 No answer

Bahrain (31)

Jordan (52)

Lebanon (19)

Tunisia (29)

UAE (32)

87 62 100 7 17 GCC 3 8 21 79 9 Europe 6 2 16 100 8 Africa 3 19 0 0 9 Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan 3 6 0 0 5 India/Pakistan 0 2 0 0 3 Australia/New Zealand 7 10 0 7 4 Other Asia Pacific 9 6 0 0 6 North America 0 0 0 0 3 South America

18 27 0 7 2 Other 0 0 0 0 0 No answer

18b. (IF IMPORTING:) From what country or countries are you importing your goods and/or services? (Multiple responses allowed)

*= Nearly all other responses in Lebanon were Turkey or Syria.

Please tell us a little bit about how your business uses technology...

Bahrain (88)

Jordan (69)

Lebanon (28)

Tunisia (43)

UAE (28)

29 16 0 19 2 GCC 25 12 32 79 26 Europe 10 0 18 0 2 Africa

5 13 0 0 0 Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan 24 4 0 5 8 India/Pakistan

2 0 0 14 1 Australia/New Zealand 60 20 86 2 9 Other Asia Pacific

5 17 14 0 13 North America 13 0 0 0 1 South America 28 41 68* 0 4 Other

0 0 0 0 0 No answer

19. Which of the following technology tools do you use in your business? (Multiple responses allowed)

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 58 55 70 54 94 A personal computer or computers 16 12 11 13 56 A multi-line telephone system 89 91 93 85 79 Cellular phone(s) 68 41 56 54 81 Fax machine 12 8 10 50 56 Computers linked together in a local

area network * 0 0 5 No answer

Survey Instrument and Question Results We’d like to know if your business is involved in international trade …


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20. Which of the following ways do you use the Internet for your business?(Multiple responses allowed)

21. Does your company have a Web site?

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 41 41 49 51 86 Electronic mail and other communication 25 17 13 28 58 Researching business opportunities 17 22 25 34 61 Exchanging documents with customers,

suppliers and others 16 7 10 9 41 Buying goods or services online 12 6 4 9 27 Selling goods or services online 15 19 14 7 56 Staying up to date with industry trends

regionally or internationally 11 21 10 11 26 Participating in web-based conferences,

seminars or meetings 0 0 0 5 9 Hosting web-based conferences,

seminars or meetings 9 39 15 38 1 We have never used the Internet 1 0 0 4 No answer


1 10 9 2 2 No answer

Please share with us the types and sources of financing used in your business...

22. Which of the following types of financing have you used within the last 12 months to meet your capital needs? (Multiple responses allowed)

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 6 14 10 24 19 Business/commercial bank loan 1 3 2 2 8 Business line of credit5 2 5 3 21 Credit cards

27 27 55 26 39 Earnings of the business 2 9 2 2 1 Micro-finance institution loan 7 3 1 1 0 Money lender 8 8 10 10 9 Personal bank loan

12 21 29 8 44 Private sources (personal savings, friends, family)

1 3 * 4 8 Vendor credit 10 4 3 0 0 Venture capital 23 6 2 1 8 Other sources 15 35 9 18 17 Used no external financing

1 0 0 3 No answer



68

23. Have you encountered any of the following situations during the past year as you have sought external financing for your business? (Multiple responses allowed)

Bahrain* Jordan Lebanon * Tunisia UAE 16 19 16 36 28 Interest rates were too high

3 16 3 11 15 Denied financing because of lack of collateral

4 4 2 0 14 Denied financing because of lack of business track record

4 17 5 6 16 Found the process too complicated 2 5 2 3 8 Perceived mistreatment due to being

a woman 27 12 22 20 11 Have not encountered any difficulties 39 41 36 20 38 Have not sought external financing

5 0 13 4 No answer

24. Do you currently have any form of bank credit, such as a loan or line of credit?


4 6 6 3 3 No answer

25. (IF YES:) How much credit do you currently have available to you in your business including all outstanding loans and lines of credit?

Bahrain (65)

Jordan (152)

Lebanon (43)

Tunisia (95)

UAE (33)

USD equivalent ñ asked in local currency

9 44 12 13 6 Under $5,000 22 20 19 27 6 $5,000-$9,999 28 24 30 28 15 $10,000-$24,999 15 3 26 13 15 $25,000-$49,999 11 3 7 7 9 $50,000-$99,999 11 * 7 7 24 $100,000-$499,999

5 0 0 1 12 $500,000-$999,999 0 3 0 3 3 $1,000,000 or more0 4 * 0 9 No answer


* Not asked as a multiple response question


69

26. How likely is it that you will seek external financing for your business sometime during the next two years for any of the following purposes?

Not at all likely

Somewhat likely

Very likely

No answer

a. Operating expenses, such as managing payroll and cash flow Bahrain 56 30 6 8 Jordan 16 37 25 22 Lebanon 24 33 8 35 Tunisia 67 24 4 6 UAE 33 20 11 36 b. Expansion capital, such as for new equipment, research and development or real estate Bahrain 48 25 20 7 Jordan 39 32 11 18 Lebanon 48 28 16 8 Tunisia 37 40 19 5 UAE 24 21 27 28 c. Financing expansion into new markets Bahrain 37 34 26 4 Jordan 21 22 36 21 Lebanon 61 13 15 11 Tunisia 42 30 23 5 UAE 23 26 27 25 d. Financing the purchase of another business Bahrain 43 30 19 8 Jordan 19 23 35 23 Lebanon 56 15 20 10 Tunisia 75 13 6 7 UAE 37 13 9 41



70

27. How regularly do you consult with each of the following types of individuals when making important business decisions?

Never

Rarely

Occasion -

ally Very

frequently No

answer a. Fellow business owners Bahrain 40 34 17 4 5 Jordan 19 43 19 12 7 Lebanon 25 10 43 17 4 Tunisia 46 25 15 7 8 UAE 11 10 42 26 11 b. Senior managers or key employees in your business Bahrain 37 33 21 5 4 Jordan 21 30 16 22 11 Lebanon 33 3 25 26 13 Tunisia 36 10 19 25 10 UAE 15 5 25 40 16 c. Attorney Bahrain 31 29 29 8 3 Jordan 19 25 19 28 10 Lebanon 27 5 40 26 2 Tunisia 37 19 22 14 8 UAE 15 26 27 18 15 d. Accountant, financial advisor Bahrain 30 27 29 10 4 Jordan 23 25 15 25 11 Lebanon 27 4 37 27 4 Tunisia 18 11 26 40 5 UAE 16 14 27 26 18 e. Husband or other family members who are involved in the business Bahrain 26 22 25 23 4 Jordan 41 28 10 11 10 Lebanon 15 4 31 41 10 Tunisia 11 9 23 52 6 UAE 20 13 15 33 20 f. Husband or other family members who are not involved in the business Bahrain 29 29 22 15 5 Jordan 15 19 32 20 14 Lebanon 30 5 27 25 13 Tunisia 35 15 24 15 11 UAE 26 19 21 16 18 g. Company board of directors or advisory board Bahrain 40 26 23 5 6 Jordan 8 18 18 42 14 Lebanon 40 8 18 21 13 Tunisia 57 11 15 5 12 UAE 38 5 7 23 27 h. Banker or loan officer Bahrain 46 26 19 2 7 Jordan 6 17 17 49 11 Lebanon 42 7 19 19 13 Tunisia 44 23 19 4 10 UAE 45 12 16 6 22 i. Informal mentor or advisor Bahrain 46 23 17 8 6 Jordan 13 25 15 37 10 Lebanon 38 4 21 25 12 Tunisia 58 17 9 5 11 UAE 23 17 26 20 15



71

28. How helpful would each of the following be to you to improve your business’ growth and success?

Not at

all

helpful

Not very

helpful

Somewhat

helpful

Very

helpful

Extremely

helpful

No

answer

Avg.

(1-5)

a. Meeting regularly with other women business owners across the country to share

ideas/experiences Bahrain 6 31 46 9 4 3 2.74 Jordan 7 15 30 28 16 5 3.33 Lebanon 8 8 30 26 15 12 3.37 Tunisia 19 16 30 25 7 3 2.85 UAE 4 3 30 29 28 6 3.81 b. Training sessions on financial management issues Bahrain 3 19 54 18 2 4 2.98 Jordan 6 14 26 32 16 5 3.41 Lebanon 6 9 14 24 11 36 3.37 Tunisia 18 18 24 29 6 5 2.87 UAE 2 11 16 40 22 10 3.77 c. Training sessions on business management and leadership issues Bahrain 3 23 44 23 3 4 3.00 Jordan 7 12 25 32 17 7 3.43 Lebanon 5 10 10 25 17 34 3.58 Tunisia 18 12 28 28 7 7 2.93 UAE 2 8 17 37 25 11 3.84 d.

Learning more about how to use technology to grow your business

Bahrain 2 20 39 29 6 3 3.16 Jordan 5 10 23 28 26 8 3.66 Lebanon 6 8 14 29 18 26 3.59 Tunisia 14 14 28 27 10 6 3.05 UAE 0 8 23 35 23 12 3.81 e. Learning more about how to access new markets, at home and abroad Bahrain 2 15 36 36 9 2 3.37 Jordan 9 9 24 26 24 8 3.52 Leba non 4 8 18 30 22 17 3.71 Tunisia 18 10 18 28 20 6 3.24 UAE 0 7 12 44 29 8 4.03 f. Learning more about getting involved in policy issues and advocacy Bahrain 4 23 35 31 5 2 3.11 Jordan 7 10 29 30 18 6 3.46 Lebanon 10 11 8 18 14 39 3.28 Tunisia 36 27 13 13 5 6 2.20 UAE 6 13 27 27 14 13 3.33 g. Organized trips to other countries to meet with other women business owners and their

organizations Bahrain 5 18 40 27 8 4 3.15 Jordan 9 5 20 26 36 5 3.80 Lebanon 6 9 19 28 19 18 3.54 Tunisia 19 15 21 25 14 5 2.99 UAE 7 11 23 27 20 12 3.47



72

29. For each of the following issues, do you feel that they have been more challenging for youbecause you are a woman, easier for you, or don’t you think there has been anydifference due to gender?

More challenging because a

woman

No

difference

Easier as a

woman No answer

%Easier - %More

Challenging a. Gaining access to capital Bahrain 12 83 3 3 -9 Jordan 36 54 6 4 -30 Lebanon 42 51 6 2 -36 Tunisia 10 73 8 10 -2 UAE 24 61 3 13 -21 b. Joining formal networks, like business associations Bahrain 10 71 15 5 +5 Jordan 14 69 10 7 -4 Lebanon 17 60 5 19 -12 Tunisia 9 73 9 10 +0 UAE 17 53 13 17 -4 c. Managing male employees Bahrain 17 63 16 5 -1 Jordan 24 61 8 7 -16 Lebanon 31 54 4 11 -27 Tunisia 29 57 8 5 -21 UAE 16 57 8 18 -8

d.

Managing female employees

Bahrain 8 59 29 3 +21 Jordan 17 57 18 7 +1 Lebanon 12 51 22 15 +10 Tunisia 18 55 21 6 +3 UAE 8 63 15 15 +7 e. Working with clients/customers Bahrain 18 54 23 5 +5 Jordan 28 53 11 7 -17 Lebanon 34 44 8 14 -26 Tunisia 10 58 26 6 +16 UAE 16 53 18 14 +2 f. Being taken seriously as a business owner Bahrain 17 61 19 4 +2 Jordan 37 46 10 8 -27 Lebanon 44 40 7 9 -37 Tunisia 11 66 16 7 +5 UAE 30 46 9 15 -21 g. Dealing with bureaucracy and paperwork Bahrain 20 58 17 4 -3 Jordan 41 44 8 8 -33 Lebanon 26 47 8 20 -16 Tunisia 24 56 12 8 -12 UAE 25 45 13 18 -12 h. Balancing work and family life Bahrain 25 52 19 4 -6 Jordan 51 34 8 7 -43 Lebanon 50 36 6 9 -44 Tunisia 49 34 12 5 -37 UAE 51 24 9 16 -42 i. Networking and building informal business relationships with mentors, advisors and other

business owners



73

30. On balance, would you say that the following characteristics – for you personally – are a net positive influence on your business, or a net negative?

Net

negative No

difference Net

positive No

answer %Positive - %Negative

a. Being a woman Bahrain 2 77 19 1 +17 Jordan 7 41 50 2 +43 Lebanon 11 40 46 2 +35 Tunisia 7 55 35 3 +28 UAE 7 49 38 6 +31 b. Your age Bahrain * 66 32 2 +31 Jordan 9 51 37 3 +28 Lebanon 9 48 27 16 +18 Tunisia 9 61 25 5 +16 UAE 10 51 32 7 +22 c. Your educational background Bahrain 3 46 50 1 +47 Jordan 4 26 67 4 +63 Lebanon 14 32 47 7 +33 Tunisia 4 40 51 5 +47 UAE 4 26 62 8 +58 d. Your nationality Bahrain 3 54 41 2 +38 Jordan 6 41 48 5 +42 Lebanon 4 45 28 23 +24 Tunisia 3 70 22 5 +19 UAE 9 34 49 8 +40 e. Your marital status Bahrain 4 64 30 2 +26 Jordan 14 43 40 4 +26 Lebanon 7 40 26 27 +19 Tunisia 11 51 32 6 +21 UAE 6 58 27 9 +21 f. Your business location (city, region) Bahrain 5 45 48 2 +43 Jordan 7 21 68 4 +61 Lebanon 7 33 37 24 +30 Tunisia 7 37 50 6 +43 UAE 6 30 56 8 +50



74

31. Do you belong to any of the following business associations? (Multiple responses allowed)

14

1

2 *

71 9

Bahrain Bahrain Business Women’s Association Gulf Region Business Women’s Association Arab Business Women’s Council AWIT None No answer

7 9 9 1 2

14 5 1 1 1

Tunisia Chamber of Commerce Mix chamber CFCNE UNFT LEO Professional association Sectoral federation CJD Municipalité AFCE

9

5 7 4 7 2

67

Jordan Jordan Forum for Business & Professional Women Jordan Women’s General Union Jordanian Women’s Union National Council for Family Affairs Pharmacy Syndicate Other None/No answer

27 19

6

36

UAE Dubai Women’s Business Group Abu Dhabi Business Women’s Association Sheikh Mohammed Establishment for Young Business Leaders Other

--

Lebanon Not asked

32. In what province or region is this business located?

Just a few more questions about your business…

24 18 15 18 20

4

Bahrain Capital Muharraq Northern Central Southern No answer

27

9 4 * 2 3

22 2 *

17 12

Tunisia

Tunis Ben Arous Kef Bizerte Monastir Gabes Ariana Nabeul Manouba Sousse Sfax No answer

74 11

6 3 3 1 1 1

Jordan Amman Karak Irbid Al Balqa Zarqa Madaba Mafraq Al Aq aba

66 24

3 0 0 0 8

UAE

Dubai Abu Dhabi Sharjah Fujeirah Ras Al Khaimah Ajman No answer

--

Lebanon

Not asked

33. Is this business primarily operated out of your home?


8 17 13 4 7 No answer



75

34. How many paid full-time/contract employees or part-time/seasonal employees does your primary business currently employ, not including yourself?

35. Approximately how many of the total number of paid employees are women?

Full-time/ Contract

Part-time/ Seasonal

Paid Women

Employees

BAHRAIN 14 62 19 None 61 35 67 1 - 9 employees 16 2 11 10 24 employees

5 1 2 25 - 49 employees 2 0 0 50 - 99 employees 1 0 * 100+ employees 0 0 No answer

13.3 1.75 5.14 Average number JORDAN

20 64 25 None 66 32 66 1 - 9 employees 11 3 7 10 24 employees

3 * * 25 - 49 employees * 0 * 50 - 99 employees * 0 * 100+ employees No answer

6.03 1.45 3.59 Average number LEBANON

44 66 29 None 56 35 76 1 - 9 employees

3 10 24 employees 1 25 - 49 employees 0 50 - 99 employees 0 100+ employees 0 No answer

-- -- 2.87 Average number TUNISIA

14 50 14 None 64 38 69 1 - 9 employees 11 4 6 10 24 employees

4 3 6 25 - 49 employees 2 0 2 50 - 99 employees 4 1 * 100+ employees 2 4 2 No answer

19.3 8.5 6.9 Average number UAE

22 39 21 None 33 34 45 1 - 9 employees 13 4 7 10 - 24 employees

7 0 2 25 - 49 employees 3 1 1 50 - 99 employees 3 1 1 100+ employees

20 22 23 No answer 13.9 3.5 6.01 Average number

-

-

-

-


*

* Asked as a yes/no question.


76

36. How many unpaid workers does your primary business regularly utilize, not including yourself?

37. Approximately how many of the total number of unpaid workers are women?

Unpaid workers

Unpaid Women

Employees

BAHRAIN 96 93 None

3 7 1 – 9 employees 0 0 10 - 24 employees 0 0 25 – 49 employees 0 0 50 – 99 employees * 0 100+ employees 0 0 No answer

3.2 0.1 Average number JORDAN

73 81 None 27 19 1 – 9 employees

* * 10 - 24 employees * 1 25 – 49 employees 0 0 50 – 99 employees 0 0 100+ employees

No answer .57 .43 Average number

LEBANON 86 91 None 14 9 1 – 9 employees

0 0 10 - 24 employees 0 0 25 – 49 employees 0 0 50 – 99 employees 0 0 100+ employees 0 0 No answer

.30 .18 Average number TUNISIA

85 86 None 6 6 1 – 9 employees 4 3 10 - 24 employees 1 1 25 – 49 employees 1 2 50 – 99 employees * * 100+ employees * * No answer

.54 .37 Average number UAE

70 78 None 16 6 1 – 9 employees

0 1 10 - 24 employees 0 0 25 – 49 employees 0 0 50 – 99 employees 0 0 100+ employees

15 15 No answer 0.3 0.2 Average number



77

38. What were the approximate annual gross sales of your business in 2005?

Finally, please answer the following questions about yourself. Responses to these questions willremain confidential, and will be used only in summary with other data...

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE USD equivalent – asked in local currency 7 36 33 15 6 Under $5,000

15 3 19 14 10 $5,000 -$9,999 20 28 13 20 13 $10,000 -$24,999 23 2 16 12 10 $25,000 -$49,999 17 12 7 12 14 $50,000 -$99,999

6 * 5 11 15 $100,000 -$499,999 2 5 1 3 4 $500,000 -$999,999 2 1 0 4 14 $1,000,000 or more

10 12 6 9 17 No answer

39. In which category is your current age?

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE * 6 1 2 0 Under 25

18 39 30 30 25 25 to 34 46 35 29 31 41 35 to 44 32 14 26 29 25 45 to 54

3 4 13 5 4 55 or older 2 2 1 2 6 No answer

40. What is your marital status? (CHECK ONE)

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE 65 61 56 72 65 Married 12 20 21 18 14 Single, never married 12 3 8 4 13 Divorced 10 6 1 0 3 Separated

0 6 9 3 1 Widowed 1 3 4 3 6 No answer

41. How does your marital status affect your business?

31 13 38 19

Bahrain Positively Negatively Neutral/None No answer

12 12 31

3 42

Tunisia Positively Negatively No impact Other No answer

12 17 25 46

JordanMajor impact Moderate No impact No answer

44

31

26

UAE Various responses – mostly positive No impact No answer

--

Lebanon Not asked



78

42. Do you have any children? If yes, please indicate their ages below

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE Number of Children 23 34 33 16 40 None

9 6 6 12 17 1 16 16 27 32 19 2 25 15 20 20 14 3 27 22 15 4 10 4 or more

0 7 0 15 No answer 2.3 3.2 1.9 1.8 1.4 Average number

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE Ages of Children -- 11 -- 11 23 Under 5 -- 24 -- 6 22 5 to 9 -- 27 -- 29 20 10 to 16 -- 38 -- 53 36 17 or older -- 0 -- 0 0 No answer

43. What is the highest level of education you have completed? (CHECK ONE)

Bahrain Jordan Lebanon Tunisia UAE * 3 16 4 8 Primary level only 6 20 37 15 6 Secondary level/Vocational school

25 24 21 10 11 Some post-secondary 59 43 18 56 36 University/Institute degree

7 9 1 13 32 Post graduate work or degree 3 2 7 3 6 No answer

44. What is your nationality? (CHECK ONE)

95

* 1 4

Bahrain Bahraini GCC national Other No answer

96

3 1

Tunisia Tunisian French Other No answer

--

Jordan Did not ask

44

2 23

4 2

19 7

UAE Emirati GCC national European North American Asian Other No answer

91

1 8

Lebanon Lebanese Other No answer



79

Compendium of Reference Reports andOrganizations

The following sources of information have been compiled as a useful reference summarizingkey information on trends in women’s entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa.Following are lists of research reports and articles, as well as women’s business

organizations and other institutes supporting women’s enterprise development in the region.

Reports Concerning Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Region

Ben Hamida, E. “Empowering Women Through Micro-Credit: A Case Study from Tunisia,” (2000).World Bank, MDF3 Civil Society Workshop.

http://www.worldbank.org/mdf/mdf3/papers/civil/Hamida.pdf

Chamlou, N. and R.K. Yared. “Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa: Buildingon Solid Beginnings.” 2003.

CIBC, Women Entrepreneurs: Leading the Charge. (2005) http://www.cibc.com/ca/small-business/article-tools/women-entrepreneurs.html

Coughlin, J.H. and Thomas, A., The Rise of Women Entrepreneurs: People, Processes and GlobalTrends . (2002). Quorum/Greenwood.

http://books.google.com/books?id=BtspjXE7gRQC&dq=Arab+women+business+owners&psp=9

Davis, J.A., Pitts, E. L., Cormier, K., “Challenges Facing Family Companies in the Gulf Region,”(2000). Family Business Review, vol. 13, no. 3.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/fabr/2000/00000013/00000003/art00005

El-Azhary Sonbol, A., Chemonics, International, Access to Microfinance and ImprovedImplementation of Policy Reform : Women in Business Constraints (review of AMIR program inJordan), (1999), U.S. Agency for International Development.

http://pdf.dec.org/pdf_docs/Pnacy404.pdf

Esim, S., Kuttab, E., “Women’s Informal Employment in Palestine: Securing a Livelihood AgainstAll Odds,” (2001) Economic Research Forum Working Paper Series, no. 0213.

http://www.erf.org.eg/uploadpath/pdf/0213Esim&Kuttab.pdf

Handoussa, H., Arab Women and Economic Development, (2005). American University in CairoPress.

IFC, “Gender Dividend: Growth Through Gender Equality,” (2005). Summary of PREM Weeksymposium.

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/News_Events_Egypt_GenderDividend/$FILE/Egypt_Gender_Dividend_April2005.pdf

IFC-GEM, Egypt Gender and Entrepreneurship Market (GEM) Study. (2005). International FinanceCorporation.

IFC-GEM, GEM Country Brief – Egypt. (2007). International Finance Corporation. http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/EpyptGEMCountryBrief2007/$FILE/Egyptfinalgemmarch6.pdf

IFC-GEM, GEM Country Brief – Jordan. (2007). International Finance Corporation. http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Jordan_GEM_Country_Briefv2/$FILE/JORDAN+GEM+Brief+with+out+Survey+info+for+posting+now.pdf

IFC-GEM, GEM Country Brief – Lebanon. (2007). International Finance Corporation.http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Lebanon_GEM_Country_Brief/$FILE/Lebanon+GEM+Country+Brief+Feb+2007.pdf

IFC-GEM, Morocco Gender and Entrepreneurship Market (GEM) Study. (2005). InternationalFinance Corporation.

IFC-GEM, GEM Country Brief – Morocco. (2005). International Finance Corporation. English:

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Morocco_Country_Brief_Oct05.pdf/$FILE/Morocco_Country_Brief_Oct05.pdf;

French:http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/MoroccoCountryBrief_French_October2005.pdf/$FILE/MoroccoCountryBrief_French_October2005.pdf

IFC-GEM, GEM Country Brief – Oman. (2005). International Finance Corporation.http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Oman+Country+Brief/$FILE/OMAN+Country+Brief+v.+29+March+2006.pdf

IFC-GEM, Yemen Gender and Entrepreneurship Market (GEM) Analysis Report. (2005).International Finance Corporation.

IFC-GEM, GEM Country Brief – Yemen. (2006). International Finance Corporation. http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Yemen_GEM_Country_Brief_July+06/$FILE/YEMEN+GEM+Country+Brief+v.+July+18+2006.pdf

IFC-GEM, GEM Regional Brief – Middle East and North Africa. (2005). International FinanceCorporation.

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/MENA_GEM_Brief_Oct05.pdf/$FILE/Regional+MENA+GEM+Brief+v.+19July+2006.pdf

IFC-GEM, PEP-MENA, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Directory ofBusinesswomen’s Associations. (2006). International Finance Corporation.

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/MENA+Regional+Directory+of+Businesswomen%27s+Association+June++2006/$FILE/~8678358.pdf

IFC, Private Sector Development, “Capacity Building for Women in Business, The Example of Iraq”(2004) PSD Gender Notes, vol. 1, no. 1.

http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/economics.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/GI-PSDGenderNotes11.pdf/$FILE/GI-PSDGenderNotes11.pdf

Isaia, E., “Microfund for Women: A Case History of Microfinance in Jordan,” (2004). University ofTurin.

http://www.saa.unito.it/meda/pdf/MFW.pdf


80


Jabra, B. Underwood, C., and Goodsmith, L., Arab Women Speak Out: Profiles of Self-Empowerment, (1997). Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs and Center for ArabWomen Training and Research.

http://www.jhuccp.org/pubs/sp/8/8.pdf

Khan, Sami. Women Entrepreneurship in Oman.http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/research/icsb/2005/109.pdf

McElwee, G. and Al-Riyami, R., “Women Entrepreneurs in Oman: some barriers to success,” (2003).International Journal of Career Development.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&contentId=883353

Mehra, R., Feldstein, H. S., Women in Development in Jordan: A Review of Current Activities andFuture Opportunities. (1998) U.S. Agency for International Development.

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/pubs/jordan_0198.pdf

Metcalfe, B.D., “Exploring cultural dimensions of gender and management in the Middle East,”(2005). Thunderbird International Business Review.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/112211095/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Minniti, M., Langowitz, N., Allen, I.E. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2005 Report on Womenand Entrepreneurship. The Center for Women’s Leadership at Babson College. (2006) translated intoArabic:

http://www.gemconsortium.org/document.asp?id=528

Motzafi-Haller, P., ed., Women in Agriculture in the Middle East. (2005) Ashgate Publishing, LTND. http://books.google.com/books?id=krBCvUpLO_cC&dq=Arab+women+business+owners&psp=9

Niethammer, C., Saeed, T., Mohamed, S., and Charafi, Y., "Women Entrepreneurs and Access toFinance in Pakistan," (2007) Women's Policy Journal of Harvard, Volume 4.

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/wpjh/papers.htm.

OECD, Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region: Background Report and PolicyConsiderations, (2005).

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/56/17/36086903.pdf

OECD, “Women Entrepreneurs in SME: Realising the Benefits of Globalisation and the Knowledge-Based Economy,” (2000 conference and report).

http://www.oecd.org/document/49/0,2340,en_2649_33956792_1886449_1_1_1_1,00.html

Slyomovics, S., Women and Power in the Middle East. (2000). University of Pennsylvania Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=5XGeEhoobIwC&dq=Arab+women+business+owners&psp=9

United Nations Development Fund for Women, Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Workand Poverty. (2005) UNIFEM.

http://www.un-ngls.org/women-2005.pdf

81

United Nations, The World’s Women 2005: Progress in Statistics. (2005) UN Publications. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm/wwpub.htm

United Nations, The World’s Women 2000. (2000). United Nations. http://www.un.org/Pubs/textbook/e00137.htm

United Nations, World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 1999: Globalization, Womenand Work. (1999) UN Publications.

https://unp.un.org/details.aspx?entry=E99WSR

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-AS, SURF. “Women and Chambers of Commerce:Case Studies from the Gulf.” April 2003.

World Bank, Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Women and the PublicSphere.

http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/mna/mena.nsf/Attachments/GenderReport-overview/$File/GENDER-REPORToverview.pdf

World Bank. MNA Women Entrepreneurship Institutional Study. Draft Report, 2005.

World Bank, Republic of Yemen: Women in Local Economic Development - Aden. (2005)http://www.wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2005/12/21/000160016_20051221162248/Rendered/PDF/322590YEM.pdf

Yusuf, A., “Workforce diversity in small enterprises: implications on firm performance,” (2005).International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, vol. 2, no. 2.

http://inderscience.metapress.com/(4eeaf145vmwjaxqaenubwpuv)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,6,6;journal,8,13;linkingpublicationresults,1:110877,1


82

Organizations Focused on Women’s Entrepreneurship inBahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and UAE


Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, http://www.adbusinesswomen.ae/ http://www.adcci.gov.ae:90/public/bwc/intro.htm

Arab Working Woman Diwan (Jordan), http://www.womandiwan.com/

Association Najdeh (Lebanon), http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/360/362/najdeh/

Bahrain Businesswomen Society, www.bahbusinesswomen.com

Bahrain Centre for Studies and Research, http://www.bcsr.gov.bh/BCSR/En/default.aspx

CAWTAR: Center for Arab Women Training and Research,www.cawtar.org

CNFCE: Chambre Nationale des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprise (Tunisia), www.cnfce.org.tn

Dubai Businesswomen Council, http://www.dcci.ae/portal/page?_pageid=53,3082&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Dubai Women’s College, http://www.dwc.hct.ac.ae/

FCEM: Les Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises Mondiales, www.fcem.org

Institut Supérieur de Gestion (Tunisia), http://www.isg.fr/fr/

International Business Women’s Group (UAE), http://www.ibwgabudhabi.org/

International Finance Corporation: Gender Entrepreneurship Markets Initiative,http://www.ifc.org/gem/

International Finance Corporation: Gender Entrepreneurship Markets Initiative in MENA, http://www.ifc.org/menagem

IFC-GEM, MENA Directory of Businesswomen’s Associations, http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gempepmena.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/MENA+Regional+Directory+of+Businesswomen%27s+Association+June++2006/$FILE/~8678358.pdf

International Women’s Forum – Jordan, http://www.iwf-jordan.com/index.html

83

Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women,www.bpwa.org.jo

Jordanian National Commission for Women, http://www.jncw.jo/

Lebanese Council of Women,http://www.lcw-cfl.org/

Lebanese League for Women in Business, http://www.llwb.org/

Maktoob Business, Women in Business, http://business.maktoob.com/wib.asp

Microfund for Women (Jordan), http://www.microfund.org.jo/

Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders (UAE), http://www.sme.ae/

University of Jordan, Women’s Studies Department, http://www.ju.edu.jo/

World Bank, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/MENAEXT/EXTMNAREGTOPGENDER/0,,menuPK:493339~pagePK:34004175~piPK:34004435~theSitePK:493333,00.html


84

Title:Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa:

Characteristics, Contributions and Challenges

A publication of:

the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR)

With the Support of:

the International Finance Corporation's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (IFC GEM)

ISBN:

Copyright © 2007Center of Arab Women for Training and Research

Cover Credits and Conception:Radhouane LARGUI

All rights reservedCenter of Arab Women for Training and Research

International Finance Corporation

Under the supervision of:Center of Arab Women for Training and Research

Information and Communication Unit

Mail order to:Center of Arab Women for Training and Research PO Box 105, 1003 Cité el Khadra, Tunis, Tunisia

Email: [email protected]: www.cawtar.org

orInternational Finance Corporation's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets

2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20433, USA

Email: [email protected]: www.ifc.org/GEM

women entrepreneurs in the middle east and north africa

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