Women are the Catalyst of change

Factors Influencing Palestinian Women’s Economic Engagement

• Political instability• Legal and regulatory environment• Business licensing and registration procedures• Lack of Business Development Centers for Women• Limited Access to Finance opportunities.• Limited Access to information on marketing and networking.• Cultural and traditional barriers. • No representation of business women in the public-Private

dialogue.

BWFFounded

2006Membership based None Profit

organization

Mission

Strengthen

the role of businesswomen in the Palestinian economy

BWF Strategic Direction

SG 1: Supporting the establishment and growth of women owned SMEs and entrepreneurs

SG 2: Building capacities and skills of women entrepreneurs to manage an enterprise

SG 3: Advocating the value of women entrepreneurs in the Palestinian economy.

SG 4: Strengthening the organizational capacity of the BWF

Moving Forward

Pillars

Building Capacity

Encouraging Entrepreneu

rship

NetworkingAdvocacy

Coaching

Mentorship

We Serve

Business Women

Young Female

Graduates

WomenEntrepreneurs

Women Cooperatives

Members with the Power to Influence

71 Members

3 out 100FORBES

4 Elected Municipality

Ramallah / Nablus

1 ElectedChamber of CommerceRamallah

1 memberInternational Court

of Arbitration

2 out of 50 top executives in

Telecom sector at Comms-MEA 2012

Partners

Business Development Center for Women

BDC primarily aims to enable businesswomen and female entrepreneurs to develop their

businesses and build up their competitive advantage

Services of BDC

Legal services and advice

Technical assistance such as consulting services, coaching and counseling

Services of BDC

Access to credit information and support:

A) linkages to credit institutions,B) Market research and information,

Management training and technical support.

Increasing of Beneficiaries

Date 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Number of Beneficiaries

0 10 54 80 90

Capacity Building of Women SME’s• 18 Paid Private Consultancy =$ 58450 • 130 counseling sessions were held.

• 500 hours were spent on B2B counseling sessions.

• 10 entrepreneurs were matched with Google mentorship Program.

• 60 BDC beneficiaries were connected with other trainings conducted by BWF partners.

• 5 women in traditional Palestinian Embroidery fashion and jewelry were matched with a designer over video conference from London.

• 40 tailored training workshops were conducted , 1100 women have participated.

• 18 SME were supported with Promotional material for their businesses.

Success Story

“Al Themar”label before

Business and Product development/ Packaging Development AlThemar Co. Label After:

Received Intensive Training and B2B coaching

Impact

• 18 SME’s formally registered• 15 SME’s started • 70 SME’s developed • 22 SME’s have increased their sales by 20%• Social Impact • %60 of the members have enhanced their

leadership skills Improved• Better financial status and income.

Lessons learned • Topics of trainings for beneficiaries are built

according to a needs assessment mapping BDC beneficiaries, through contracting experienced consultants.

• More explosion to multimedia and social media means was conducted to grab the attention of beneficiaries.

• More opportunities of the representation of BWF are given to all members and staff according to specialty, and not only exclusive for founding members.

Where to find us?

Al-Fare’ Bldg, 2nd Fl. Al-Baluu’ – Palestine

www.bwf.ps

www.facebook.com/BusinessWomenForum