The Lebanese business community gathered recently at one ofBeirut’s posher eateries to celebrate the signing of a tradememorandum between the Beirut and Paris Chambers ofCommerce. However, it was neither the place nor the occasionthat was remarkable, but the fact that among the 100 or soguests, there were only a handful of women.
Studies conducted by the Gender Entrepreneurial Marketprogram (GEM) show that female labor participation inLebanon—which increased from 12.5% in the 1960s to 32.3%% in2000—was estimated in 2003, at 21.7% of the total laborforce. Tapping into this unexploited labor market, theLebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), anon-partisan, non-profit organization, aims to empower womenin the economic environment by providing a structured forumfor women in order to achieve their entrepreneurial potential.
Filling the vacuum
The NGO was the result of a happy coincidence when the 12founding members met by chance at a conference forbusinesswomen in Tunisia in May 2005. “The conferencebrought together women from all over the MENA region, whichinspired us to reproduce a similar model in Lebanon,” saysNajwa Tohme, manager at Al Rifai Roastery and president ofLLWB. With only 22% of Lebanese women contributing to theworkforce, the founders of LLWB tried to utilize the laborvacuum prompted by increasing numbers of experienced maleemployees leaving the country in search of better careerprospects.
“We decided to support women, trying to facilitate theirentry into the job market. I don’t have exact figures formale versus female productivity, but as Mr. Adnan Kassar,Fransabank’s CEO, stated at our inaugurating conference,when women and men are put together in the same workenvironment, women tend to be more accurate and loanscontracted by female debtors seem also to result in lowerdefault rates.”
Opting for education and vocation
To accomplish its mission statement, namely to “encouragewomen to take the lead to succeed,” LLWB has opted foreducational and vocational programs, networking, advocacyand incubators. “We intend to organize conferences andtrainings that will assist women and point them in the rightdirection. The educational programs will address variousaspects of the business process such as setting up anoperation, drafting a business plan, market research, orapproaching financial institutions,” adds Tohme.
In addition, women employed in private companies willbenefit from the training sessions, by reinforcing theirknowledge base and learning to apply concepts to their ownactivities. To promote the role of women in economy, LLWBwill also approach fresh university graduates. Thereinsertion of women in the workforce after an extensiveleave of absence, usually caused by pregnancy, is anothergoal on the organization’s agenda.
“Once they’ve tended to their family and their children areall grown up, women feel left behind. We can update theirskills, through training sessions, in order to facilitatethe integration process. A perfect example would be offeringcomputer classes.”
Networking
Networking is another tool used for promoting women in theworkplace. This will be done mainly through the conferencingactivity where people can come together, exchange businessideas and present their products. The last field, advocacy,highlights women rights in business, it is supported by ateam of four lawyers, who are also members of the NGO. “Therole of women is quite narrow in business. If one takes aquick look at the banking sector, positions such branchmanager are within a woman’s reach, whereas boardmemberships are a rare occurrence, unless the woman owns astake in the organization,” adds Tohme. “Companiesadvertising CEO positions ultimately favor male over femalecandidates.”
Incubators, the last weapon in the NGO’s hand, offermanagement guidance, technical assistance and consulting,tailored to young growing companies. Once the NGO is largeenough and capable of offering a wide array of expertise,incubators will be used to guide women through the businessmaze. “This particular instrument is part of our medium tolong-term plan,” points-out Tohme.
As LLWB aims to achieve equal opportunities andunrestricted access to resource for women, as well as toenhance female entrepreneurship and leadership, Tohmebelieves that benchmarking will be measured against resultsachieved, as the NGO activities grow.
To build awareness among the business community, LLWBorganized a conference last month devoted to theassociation’s goals and mission, bringing in speakers todiscuss access to SME funding, such as Carlos Lebbos head ofspecialized credits at BLC, Tarek Itani, credit manager atKafalat and Nagy Rizk from the Building Block Equity Fund.NGOs, major business associations and companies as well asAmerican embassy officials were invited to take part in theevent. Few bothered to show up.
For more information: please visit the LLWB Web site at:www.llwb.org
