FEM – Mediterranean businesswomen

Mediterranean businesswomen (Egypt, Libanon, Marocco, Tunisia) 2006-2008

Following the pilot experience led jointly by BATIK International and Enda interarabe (French and Tunisian development NGOs) on the strengthening of advisory services to women micro-entrepreneurs (see the hyperlink), a regional level project, FEM – Femmes Entrepreneuses en Méditerrannée (Mediterranean Businesswomen) was launched in 2006 within the European Union’s MEDAWOMEN program (EOWEL, Enhancing the Opportunities for Women in Economic Life.

The aim of the FEM project was to improve the standard of living and capacity to generate sustainable income of women micro-entrepreneurs established in the Mediterranean basin (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia). In the target countries, it can be noted that: salaried employment is unusual but there are many employment creation opportunities. It was thus crucial to help Mediterranean women seize these opportunities by enhancing their capacity to create, run and develop their micro-enterprise.

This goal was pursued via the following activities:

• capacity building within partner organizations responsible for supporting women micro-entrepreneurs, in particular by holding capacity building seminars about the implementation of project management as well as general and conflict management and by organizing seminars to exchange good practice between companies regarding financial and non-financial departments;
• identification of business areas with growth potential in each target country;
• implementation of non-financial advisory services: management training (accountancy, marketing, etc.) and technical training (design); organization of awareness sessions on health and rights, etc.; analysis and personal advice in order to create a plan of action to improve the micro-enterprise results (better inventory management, better packaging, etc.) support actions for products and services marketing through the organization of trade fairs, referencing of products in shops, etc. ; supply support actions through collective excursions to supply sites, raising awareness of negotiation etc.
• information about micro-credit and expanding sectors to encourage women to focus on the less competitive lines of business,
• networking actions for women micro-entrepreneurs through the organization of annual forums about women in micro-enterprises during which women talked about both their professional practices (exchange workshops and training sessions by carried out by professionals) and their personal environment (women’s rights conference, etc.) The three forums, in which more than 200 women micro-entrepreneurs took part, enabled several women not only to establish commercial relationships between themselves but also with buyers from host countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco).

More than 10,000 women benefited from the Mediterranean businesswomen project in the four partner countries, contributing significantly to the political and social empowerment of these women.

This project led to the organization of the 1st Euro-Mediterranean Fair of women in micro-enterprise in 2008 and the creation of a clothing cooperative in Tunisia which works with French fashion designers via an ethical approach.

The activities led by BATIK International were co-financed by the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Council.

BATIK International participated in the development and implementation of:

• capacity building seminars;
• seminars to exchange good practice;
• mediation actions between women micro-entrepreneurs and European fair trade networks;
• the project evaluation document.