Nesma Nowar reports on an initiative to support women's entrepreneurship Many economic studies show that investing in women is a focal point and a key factor to achieve economic growth. Researches show that a greater participation of women in the labour force would have a dramatic effect on the GDP growth of a country. According to the World Bank report , The Environment for Women's Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Region, women's entrepreneurship could help the region meet its challenges as empowering women and diversifying the economy can go together and help the region meet the critical challenge of creating more and better jobs. Based on such researches, the Goldman Sachs Group, the global investment bank, securities and investment management firm, launched the 10,000 Women Initiative in March 2008. It is a $100 million, five-year campaign to foster greater shared economic growth by providing 10,000 underserved women around the world with a business and management education. The initiative is coordinated in local markets by a network of more than 70 academic and NGO partners. Last week, the American University in Cairo (AUC) announced the graduation of more than 100 women entrepreneurs from the 10,000 women programme. The programme at AUC focuses on professional leadership management and entrepreneurial skills including accounting, marketing, accessing capital, strategic planning, human resource management and writing a business plan. The curriculum was developed by AUC, in collaboration with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "Now, I can say I have strategic goals and know how to achieve them," Marwa El-Nashar, one of AUC's 10,000 women programme graduates, told Al-Ahram Weekly. El-Nashar is an Egyptian woman from Port Said who owns an enterprise for software manufacturing. She narrated that she has started her project with three employees and faced many administrative problems due to her lack of experience. Accordingly, she has joined the AUC programme. After completing the programme, El-Nashar said that she has learnt strategic planning and marketing which helped her expand and develop her business. Her project now includes nine employees and the product could be done in three days, according to a defined business plan, instead of three months. She further stated that she learned how to hire and manage employees. "Software industry needs special qualifications so I learnt how to select the appropriate persons for the job," she said. For participants like Sayeda Fouad, taking part of the programme was an exceptional experience. "My concepts of how to manage a business have completely changed," she affirmed. Fouad started her own business two months prior to her participation in the programme. She owns a company that offers cleaning services for firms and banks. Her company included 20 workers; however she succeeded in expanding and marketing her business to include 200 workers. Fouad explained that the programme has helped her develop her marketing and presentation skills and therefore expanding her business and achieving profits. Women selected for the 10,000 women programme should be underserved, operate a small business with growth potential, and have a university degree. To date, AUC has received over 2,000 applicants for 235 available slots. Some 200 have completed the programme to date and currently 34 scholars are enrolled and will graduate in October.
