(ANSAmed) - ROME, SEPTEMBER 20 - One of the most influential
women in the Arab world according to Forbes magazine,
housewife-turned-businesswoman Huda Janahi, whose company totals
annual revenues of 3 million dollars, spoke about her success
story at the two-day Bahrain International Export in Rome. The
event was aimed at attracting investments in the small kingdom.
Janahi, a former bank employee and then housewife, obtained funding in 2001 from the Arab Regional Center for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO following a number of failed attempts . After starting with an initial investment of 4,000 dollars and one employee, the businesswoman is today at the helm of one of the leading cargo companies in Bahrain and another eight enterprises in the Gulf and hopes an increasing number of Arab women will follow her footsteps.
‘My objective is to help an increasing number of Arab women enter the world of business, which is wrongly considered a man’s world, and create their own companies’, she told ANSAmed. Janahi teaches at ARCEIT and is an active member of the Bahraini Business Women Society.
The society’s President Ahlam Janahi, a food and beverages entrepreneur who is seeking business partners in Italy, said that ‘there is an increasing number of women entrepreneurs in our country’. Some 30% of Bahrain’s chamber of commerce members are women, she said.
Most companies in Bahrain are small or medium-sized and the number of women participating in UNIDO projects has increased 59% in the last year, said Hashim Hussein, the director of Bahrain’s office promoting investments.
By 2015, Arab countries will need 100 million jobs, said Hussein, stressing that ‘encouraging women to work helps bridge this gap’.
Women entrepreneurs are now active in all sectors – construction, textile, restoration, public relations, technology, energy and retail.
Among the women entrepreneurs from Bahrain who are in Rome to attend the Expo is Amal Monsoor, a designer and owner of the Zumorrod label. Mansoor opened her first store in Manama eight years ago with her husband’s help and today sells to local royals, actresses and artists throughout the Kingdom and Qatar her richly crafted clothes. (ANSAmed).
Janahi, a former bank employee and then housewife, obtained funding in 2001 from the Arab Regional Center for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO following a number of failed attempts . After starting with an initial investment of 4,000 dollars and one employee, the businesswoman is today at the helm of one of the leading cargo companies in Bahrain and another eight enterprises in the Gulf and hopes an increasing number of Arab women will follow her footsteps.
‘My objective is to help an increasing number of Arab women enter the world of business, which is wrongly considered a man’s world, and create their own companies’, she told ANSAmed. Janahi teaches at ARCEIT and is an active member of the Bahraini Business Women Society.
The society’s President Ahlam Janahi, a food and beverages entrepreneur who is seeking business partners in Italy, said that ‘there is an increasing number of women entrepreneurs in our country’. Some 30% of Bahrain’s chamber of commerce members are women, she said.
Most companies in Bahrain are small or medium-sized and the number of women participating in UNIDO projects has increased 59% in the last year, said Hashim Hussein, the director of Bahrain’s office promoting investments.
By 2015, Arab countries will need 100 million jobs, said Hussein, stressing that ‘encouraging women to work helps bridge this gap’.
Women entrepreneurs are now active in all sectors – construction, textile, restoration, public relations, technology, energy and retail.
Among the women entrepreneurs from Bahrain who are in Rome to attend the Expo is Amal Monsoor, a designer and owner of the Zumorrod label. Mansoor opened her first store in Manama eight years ago with her husband’s help and today sells to local royals, actresses and artists throughout the Kingdom and Qatar her richly crafted clothes. (ANSAmed).
