The Association of Business Women and Top Managers in Brasov, Romania (AFAFCI) has organized a launch event for a new CIPE publication “Women’s Business Associations, Experiences from Around the World: Central and Eastern Europe”, which is part of CIPE’s Women Paper Series. The publication presents findings on the current state of women’s business associations in 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, FYROM, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland). It also includes a case study on the Association of Business Women and Top Managers in Brasov, Romania (AFAFCI). AFAFCI has translated the case study into Romanian and printed it at its own expense. The translated version is meant to complement the English version of the study.

The event, which focused on women entrepreneurs and the international recognition of AFAFCI’s work, was hosted by Brasov Chamber of Commerce and Industry and featured CIPE Regional Office Program Director Camelia Bulat, as well as the author of the case study, Cornelia Rotaru, as guest speakers. Ms. Rotaru is also President of another prominent Romanian women entrepreneurs’ organization, the Association for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship (ADAF).

Continue reading ‘The Association of Business Women and Top Managers in Brasov (Romania) Launches CIPE Publication’ »

CIPE’s most recent case study on women’s business associations focuses on Central and Eastern Europe, and features Association for Women Entrepreneurship Development President Cornelia Rotaru’s case study on one of the most resounding success stories in the region – the Association of Business Women and Top Managers (AFAFCI), in Brasov county, Romania.

CIPE Regional Office has had the pleasure of sharing the study with its partners in the Coalition of Business Women Associations (CAFA) and the Balkan Coalition of Women Business Associations. The two coalitions were born with CIPE support and CIPE Regional Office’s direct involvement in 2004 and 2005 respectively, AFAFCI being one of both coalitions’ founding members. CIPE Regional Office will also be represented at a press conference to be held in Brasov, in August, whose purpose is to disseminate the findings of the study, and more specifically the findings of Ms. Rotaru’s case study.

Continue reading ‘The Association of Business Women and Top Managers – the Case for Success’ »

Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has been active in facilitating and promoting women entrepreneurs since last many years. TDAP has been instrumental in providing impetus to women development in exports by including women development programmes in its seven point strategy.

In continuation of this strategy,Women Exporters Network (WEXNET) is designed as an exclusive platform for women entrepreneurs from all parts of the country to put on display numerous products that they manufacture or market in a thematically classified environment. The idea is to encourage women of the country to come forward and play their due role in the economic development and uplift of the country.

WEXNET 2010, at Lahore had all the necessary ingredients of a successful international level exposition and offered everything which a woman entrepreneur may seek from an interactive platform of the highest profile to extract maximum mileage from the development of their businesses.

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We are pleased to inform you that after successful events in Syria, Bangladesh, South Korea, U.K and Italy, the Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs of India (CWEI) is once again leading the delegation of women entrepreneurs to the 7th Dosti-Women Entrepreneur Trade Expo 2010 from August 24th to 29th, 2010 at Dhaka, Bangladesh. Various products prepared by Women Entrepreneurs will be on display during the exhibition. The main features of the event are:

1. To provide a wide variety of products manufactured by women entrepreneurs from various countries in the Asian region under one roof for the convenience of Eid shoppers.
2. To promote networking amongst the participating women entrepreneurs from other Asian countries.

Registration Information

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org

This year Central and North Punjab Woman Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CNPWCCI) accoladed women entrepreneurs with Laurels of Honour 2009 for recognition of women extraordinaire  who have achieved remarkable accomplishments in their respective fields. This was the first award ceremony and will go a long way to acknowledge women who have made outstanding achievements in various walks of life, who are role models, who demonstrate initiative and pioneering spirit, who have contributed to the economic advancement of women and the quality of women’s lives in Pakistan.

More than 50 women were honoured at the ceremony from sectors such as banking, SMEs, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, IT, media, politics, education, beauty, community development, judiciary, art, entertainment, sports, gems and jewelry, construction and housing, services such as health care, hospitals, environment and manufacturing.

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Maghrebi women have come a long way in terms of pushing for political, social and economic reform, integrating their participation in decision-making, creating enterprises, and making investments. However, they still have a long way to go in terms of maximizing their contributions to the private sector and using entrepreneurship as a means to overcome cultural and social barriers among women.

Entrepreneurial women in the Maghreb still represent a small proportion of the total population, and are divided over cultural, socioeconomic, and even linguistic lines. Whether it is an illiterate woman running a small home-based sewing business or a female fashion designer who graduated from France’s L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (National Advanced School of Fine Arts), Maghrebi women are united despite such divisions by the goal to contribute to their own households and their country, and to use business opportunities to improve their own situation and build a better future for the region…

Read the full article about women in the Maghreb and their role in the private sector.

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org

The Development Finance Support Unit, SBPBSC-Lahore arranged a workshop on the financing issues of Women Entrepreneurs on 9th March, 2010 at SBPBSC Lahore. The purpose of arranging this workshop was to discuss the finance related issues of women entrepreneurs with the senior representatives of banks extending SME finance in the Lahore region. In this workshop, the senior officials from the banking sector, chambers of commerce & industry and other relevant institutions participated and shared their views and experiences.

The unique feature of this workshop was that the women entrepreneurs who have actually faced difficulties in obtaining loans from banks shared their problems particularly with the banks whereas the senior bankers discussed their viewpoint in assessing SMEs for a loan and gave clarification on certain issues. The workshop was conducted in the form of the following presentations delivered by various stakeholders to discuss their points of view on the financial problems of women entrepreneurs/SMEs, the impact of finance on their earnings and policy recommendations.  

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The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) invites young people to share their ideas on how to create opportunities for youth to strengthen democracy and the private sector in their countries. Students and young professionals aged 18-30 are welcome to participate by writing an essay on one of the three topics: Democracy that delivers, Entrepreneurship and society, or Women and participation. Winning articles will be published by CIPE and receive a $1,000 honorarium.

Please visit the 2010 International Youth Essay Contest website at www.cipe.org/essay for further information and details about the contest.

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs send an email to: partners@cipe.org

Join CIPE in celebrating International Women’s Day with exclusive blog posts and resources that capture stories and insight from our work with women around the world.

Learn more on the CIPE Development Blog.

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org

International Women’s Day is already upon us again. How are you planning to celebrate? Last year at this time, on CWE we heard about special activities in Ghana, Bangladesh, Romania, Pakistan, and Nepal. What’s new and exciting this year?

Share your thoughts or activities related to Women’s Day and entrepreneurship: partners@cipe.org  Best wishes for a fruitful commemoration of women’s contributions to business and society.

Kim Bettcher
CIPE