Women entrepreneurs from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Sudan and Gaza were the focus of attention at the closing ceremony of the 2024 World Entrepreneur Investment Forum (WEIF), which began on Tuesday in Bahrain’s capital, Manama.
During the panel discussion on “Women, Peace and Security,” and in exclusive interviews with a UN News team reporting from the Forum afterwards, the businesswomen shared inspiring stories of how their projects have inspired them to help others – and why more funding is needed.
Gaza conflict disrupts women-led projects
Tahani Abu Dhaka, a Palestinian businessman from Gaza, has been in the Gaza Strip for about seven months since the recent conflict began. She left the Strip three weeks ago and was about to return when the checkpoints were closed and she unexpectedly got the opportunity to join WEIF.
“I was the first Palestinian woman to work in the Gaza Strip and create employment opportunities for women, such as in garment and biscuit factories, so that they could stay in the Strip, as many of its residents were moving outside the Strip to work,” Abu Dhaka said.
But her work to advance women’s rights has faced challenges: the conflict that has raged in the Gaza Strip since 2007 has hindered the progress of her projects.
As examples, she gave: “I founded the Damour Foundation, which focused on environmental initiatives such as water harvesting devices and solar-powered sewage treatment plants. I also launched Gaza Life for Renewable Energy, despite facing difficulties in raising funds. Although it was ultimately successful, the project was destroyed before it was completed.”
Since the current conflict began, everything has changed.
“Suddenly I found myself displaced in an area close to the sea. I was able to rent a small house to live in, but the women and children who were displaced were living on the streets, in the rain. I had to do something to help them. We had nothing. No banks, no money.”
“I forgot about all the problems I was going through… I started thinking about women out in the rain with their children,” said Abu Dhaka, who recently completed a project but ended up more than $2.5 million in debt. [without shelter]So, I started collecting money from friends and relatives to build a camp.”
Unfortunately, there were no tents because international organizations had not prepared them, she continued. “So, for this emergency operation, I started buying wood, gathered relatives and volunteers, and we started making tents day and night.”
“Jewish friends raised $5,000 for me to get out of Gaza, but I used the money to build tents for people,” she explained to UN News.
“The lives and dreams of Sudanese people matter.”
Alaa Hamad, a Sudanese mother of three daughters, is the CEO and founder of SolarFood, a cleantech start-up and pioneer of Sudan’s dry food industry.
“Solar Food uses a solar drying process to produce a range of organic dry foods packaged in environmentally friendly packaging to cater to both retail and wholesale markets.”
Hamad’s factory was destroyed during the conflict in Sudan: “We exported to seven countries, including the UK, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. My business was located on the factory grounds in Sudan,” she explains.
She further said, “My ultimate vision was to have a positive impact on people’s lives, which I can achieve by supporting smallholder farmers. I also try to spread the word about the concept of solar drying and how it can benefit people.”
Since war broke out a little over a year ago, Hamad says he has lost everything.
“Sudanese lives matter. Sudanese dreams matter. We have faced horror. Sudanese people have lost everything. Our factories have been destroyed. We have lost our valuables. We have lost our friends. Our women have been raped.”
“Everyone says what’s going on in Sudan is a civil war, but that’s not true. It’s a war over resources. [become] Ethnic [conflict].”
When conflict broke out, Hamad initially fled to Egypt but later decided to return to Sudan.
“I chose to return to Sudan again to set up a drying factory, but it is really difficult to do business again in Sudan,” she said, citing challenges including inflation, a lack of equipment, communication barriers, frequent power outages and security threats such as bombings and drones.
Despite all this, she said, “I think we are becoming more resilient. I know no one is going to come and save us. It’s up to us to get back on our feet again.”
Empowering Afghan Mothers
Malalai Helmand, chief operating officer of Afghanistan-based solar power organization Helmand Solar, and her husband, Hamid Helmand, are implementing projects to empower women in the Asian country.
Over the past two and a half years, their company has been setting up greenhouses for women affected by conflict and crisis, she explained, adding that 47 years of war in Afghanistan has weakened the role of mothers as pillars of the family.
“[A mother] They spend most of their time in the most important period of a child’s development. In cultures like Afghanistan, where family ties are strong, such families [are more stable] “It’s where mothers are empowered, informed and given the opportunity to earn their own income or at least participate in decision-making through something that has the potential to generate income.”
Meanwhile, returning home after three days at WEIF, Helmand said, “I believe that with our efforts, ideals and ideas, we can give women back their responsibilities and jobs, because 80 percent of women are unemployed because of the war and what is happening in the region.”
“The Iraq conflict couldn’t stop me”
In 2018, the Iraqi government was battling the ISIS militant group, but that didn’t stop Basima Abdulrahman, founder and CEO of KESK, a company pursuing greentech energy solutions through technology.
“I loved sustainability so I decided to build a sustainable business. [but] “I never thought it would eventually become a climate change business,” Abdulrahman told UN News.
She added: “I’m not afraid of ongoing conflict because climate change is as big a threat as ISIS, so action against it is not an option.” [both] We have to fight them together and not in any particular order, so we decided it couldn’t be too early, but it could be too late.”
Abdulrahman believes that the transition to renewable energy is not just a strategic plan or a luxury for Iraq, but a necessity: The country has a 50 percent electricity shortage, a shortfall that is currently filled by polluting generators that don’t actually fill the gap, and on top of that, they’re expensive.
She appealed to women entrepreneurs in conflict zones and peaceful but patriarchal regions to “start and grow great businesses. No matter what challenges you face, you can always persevere and strengthen your business and move forward.”
Entrepreneurs’ voices are heard
As the curtains came down on WEIF2024 here in Manama, Dr Hashim Hussein, Director of UNIDO’s Technology Investment Promotion Office in Bahrain, who organized the forum, said he was proud to “ensure that entrepreneurs have a voice.”
“Entrepreneurs within the UN system have been given a voice. And young people, we are now listening to them. Before they were just listeners.”
“I think the greatest achievement of WEIF2024 is that it has engaged the international community in recognising and understanding the issues and plight of women in conflict and how we can help,” he continued.
Such support should be channeled through economic development so they can support their families and “of course the communities and countries they live in,” he told UN News on the sidelines of the forum. “I think that’s going to be a major outcome of this year’s Global Intervention Investment Forum 2024.”
