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Middle East North Africa: High-level Women's Business Forum meeting
Policies and services to support women’s entrepreneurship development in the MENA region: Government and private sector responses in times of change
OECD Conference Centre, Paris, 27-28 September 2011
The meeting brought together over 70 participants, including public and private sector representatives and academia from Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen and included a special contribution from the South African Businesswomen’s Association affiliated with Vital Voices. It benefitted from the participation of the Tunisia-based Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR). It also brought together key international organisations, including the ILO and EBRD.
Building on previous Women’s Business Forum events which notably considered mechanisms to improve access to finance for women entrepreneurs, this meeting focused on how MENA economies can advance private sector development efforts through targeted policies and business support services for women entrepreneurs. This meeting addressed:
- policy advocacy in the current political environment
- improving women’s access to non-financial business support services
- increasing women’s access to markets and information; and
- research and data collection for developing effective and informed policies.
Meeting documents
- Agenda (English/ Français)
- Draft conclusions
- Contribution of H.E. Ambassador Dina Kawar (Ambassador of Jordan to France and Co-chair of the Women’s Business Forum)
- Contribution of H.E. Ambassador Karen Kornbluh (Ambassador of the United States to the OECD and Co-chair of the Women’s Business Forum)
- Concluding remarks by Gabriela Ramos (Chief of Staff of the Secretary General and G20 Sherpa, OECD)
- Inventory of policies, institutions and programmes supporting women’s enterprise in the MENA region: Guidance note for task forces
- Note on the establishment of national task forces (English / Français)
Presentations on:
Improving access to non-financial business support services
- Ms. Lois Stevenson (President, LASMA Consulting): Improving women’s access to non-financial business support services
Main findings of the reviews of selected MENA economies on policies, institutions and programmes supporting women’s enterprise
- Ms. Najat Jumaan (Director, Businesswomen’s Department, Federation Chambers of Commerce, Yemen): Inventory of policies, institutions and programmes supporting women’s enterprise in Yemen
- Ms. Malika Ben Mahi (President, Association marocaine pour la promotion de la femme rurale -AMPFR) : Presentation on AMPFR (in French)
Strengthening women’s access to markets
- Ms. Serena Romano (President, Corrente Rosa, Italy): Strengthening women’s access to markets
- Ms. Kunyalala Maphisa (President, Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa): Improving women’s access to markets: The experience of the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa
- Ms. Yomna El Sheridy (President, Businesswomen of Egypt 21): A Story of an Egyptian woman entrepreneur
Research and data collection: state of play and priority areas for improvement
- Ms. Susan Joekes (Senior Programme Specialist, MENA Regional Office, IDRC): Research and data collection in MENA: gaps, needs and priorities
- Ms. Latifa Echihabi: Improving research and data collection: The case of Morocco (in French)
- Ms. Mariarosa Lunati (Head of Section, OECD Statistics Directorate): Developing indicators of women entrepreneurship: the approach of the OECD-EUROSTAT Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme
- Mr. Paul D. Reynolds (Howard Hoffman Distinguished Scholar of Management and Entrepreneurship George Washington University): Research and data collection, state of play and priority areas for improvement
Contact us
Any questions relating to this meeting should be addressed to mena.investment@oecd.org.
See also
Overview of the OECD-MENA Women's Business Forum