Bahraini.TV

Enterprising Women

by mahmood on 09/11/07 at 9:52 am · email  · print  

Hailed as a regional leader in promoting greater involvement of women in business, Bahrain’s efforts to assist start-up enterprises and the liberalising of its economy have been touted as major factors in this success.

Bahrain’s model for assisting business start ups, with support services providing training, financing and marketing, has been a catalyst for creating a greater awareness among Arab businesswomen, according to Hashim Hussein, the head of the Bahrain office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation – Investment and Technology Promotion Office.

Fatima Al Balushi, Bahrain’s minister for social development, said the government had put in place policies to empower women and to provide opportunities to access funding, training and marketing services.

One of the measures will be a new training centre dedicated to women entrepreneurs in Bahrain, which will provide support to established businesswomen as well as those just embarking on professional careers.

Bahrain is a regional leader in the number of businesses registered to women, with the figure currently standing at 31% of the kingdom’s total, according to United Nations Development Programme Arab Countries gender consultant Dr Fatima Khafagy. However not all of these enterprises may necessarily be owned and operated by women, as some may be family affairs. Still, a full 60% of these registered businesses are listed as being solely owned by women, a high rate for the region.

Despite the successes of programmes to assist women with fledgling businesses in Bahrain, there are still a number of hurdles. One of these is seen as a cultural issue. A recent study by the Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR) showed that many Bahraini women were reluctant to seek financial assistance for their businesses through conventional channels. This was given as the reason why 77% of Bahraini women entrepreneurs did not finance through loans from banks or financial institutions, the report said.

“Women may also be hesitant to approach financial institutions or deal with male bankers and potentially negative attitudes towards female clients,” said the CAWTAR report, released in June.

One measure that may help overcome this reluctance is a plan to establish a bank designed to assist women obtain project financing.

“We have already taken concrete steps in the establishment of the Innovators Bank which is aimed at providing financing to micro enterprises which will in turn result in economically empowering Bahraini women,” said Sheikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the chairman of the Bahrain Development Bank (BDB), announced on October 30.

The bank will be jointly owned by the BDB and Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organisations, which will each hold a 40% stake, with private investors having the remaining 20% of shares. The bank, which will have an authorised capital of $26.5m, will provide micro credit loans to entrepreneurs and is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, said Al Khalifa.

The CAWTAR study noted Bahraini women still had to embrace technology in their businesses, with just 25% of the kingdom’s businesswomen making use of the internet to research new business opportunities and only 32.3% of them having a company website.

However, the state is seeking to address this problem too, offering information and courses through its business support programmes and encouraging wider awareness of information technology options.

According to Sheikha Hissah Al Sabah, the president of the Arab Businesswomen’s Council, it is “just a matter of time before Arab women will be seen as equal partners in the national economic and social developments of Arab countries”.