Women in Business International Forum

Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Member of the Supreme Council on Education, State of Qatar; HH Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui, Moroccan Ambassador to the UK; Mrs Sarah Brown; HRH Princess Loulwa Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz; and Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, Vice President, Middle East Association.

MBI Al Jaber Foundation Staff attended the Women in Business International Forum held in BERR Conference Centre in London on the 19^th to the 20^th of May 2009. This year’s conference focused on the role of women in entrepreneurship. The inspirational atmosphere was filled with hope and achievement and a look into a future where women are given the same opportunities and treated equally to men in the workplace. 

Due to the current state of the economy, there was much discussion at the conference about the role of women in the banking sector.  After the sudden hit to the world economy, it was suggested that women can be as good or even better in making sensible hard decisions in senior positions in corporations, partly because research has noted that women tend not to make fast irrational decisions but rather tend to make decisions which are circumspect and calculated.  

The conference was full of inspirational women: some who have broken barriers in their field and some who have helped women find their skill and then encouraged them to enter the workforce.  

Princess Loulwa Al -Faisal Bin Abdulaziz gave a motivational speech addressing the situation in Saudi Arabia for women entering into entrepreneurialism. She avowed that women have the necessary skills and knowledge to start their own business and be as equally qualified as men in the workplace despite cultural boundaries that still exist. Reform in the law now allows women to have businesses under their own name and open bank accounts but more needs to be done. There are still banks and companies that refuse to work with women unless they have are accompanied by a man to do the work on their behalf. Therefore, she concluded that it will take time for society in Saudi Arabia to understand, accept, acknowledge and allow women to be part of the entrepreneurial workforce. 

Nasreen Fatema Awal, a managing director in Bangladesh, is one of the first and only women to hold this position in her country. Despite all the resistance she faced, she achieved her ambition which is an inspiration for all women to work harder to achieve their goals and to not let any obstacles stand in their way. 

PR guru Lynne Franks is the founder of Seed, an organization that helps women work and live by the feminine principles of sustainable co-operation and mutual in a male dominated workplace.  She organizes workshops for women to inspire and encourage them to take that first step in achieving their goals and aspirations.   

The Forum concluded with the hope that with the investment that is being put into women’s entrepreneurship and through open dialogue and communal support, there will continue to be change for the better in the role of women in the workforce worldwide.