 |
Leading Companies Online Magazine
The MENA Businesswoman’s Summit 2006: A Student’s Perspective
By Vanee Pho, Rady School of Management student, UC San Diego
 From October 29 to November 1, I had the privilege of traveling with the Beyster Institute to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to assist them with their efforts in the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Businesswomen’s summit. When my classmates ask me how my trip to Abu Dhabi was, three memorable experiences come to mind. I’ve traveled to several areas of the world as a tourist, however I have never been as moved as I was by the inspirational and dedicated women that I met within the convention rooms at the conference hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Feeling like a true outsider
After a 30-hour flight through Chicago and London and with four hours of sleep, my fellow Rady Student (Erin Felix, Flex’07) and I received our first assignment: helping the Beyster crew set up their registration booth. I was amazed at how concerned the Beyster employees were about keeping registration organized and manageable. Then I realized that only in America (and England) do people wait in lines, usually…(Apparently at previous Beyster conferences, they had been bombarded with guests coming to registration all at the same time.). Registration went very smoothly as people arrived in small, manageable groups.
Actually, this was the first time I’ve really felt like an outsider in a foreign land, as I’ve never been to the UAE before, much less the Middle East. Rather than my initial impression of Arab women as a homogeneous group, I soon picked up subtle attitude differences, and I noticed variations in the way they wear their scarves, and even their choice of colors depending on where they were from.
Passion
During one of the breakout sessions, I helped Mrs. Debra Murray, a sales and marketing expert who attended as a U.S. delegate, to conduct a workshop to help young MENA entrepreneurs. This was well attended by young women who worked full time while still starting up side business such as a small specialty store or importing company. One participant, Mariam, stood out immediately due to her passion and vision to succeed. Mariam operates a small booth in her local mall in Kuwait where she sells imported goods from Lebanon. She was troubled that her success in selling her goods from home did not translate to her booth in the mall, which was run by a newly hired employee/guest worker. With Debra Murray’s help we explored her customer base and ways of motivating her employees.
It quickly became clear that Mariam had little experience in balancing the revenue and expenses of her business. I sheepishly asked Miriam if she knew what Microsoft Excel was and whether she would like a quick lesson. She was very eager to sacrifice the first few minutes of her lunch time to sit down with me and explore Excel. I loaded up my laptop and showed her how she could easily fill in the table “cells” with her expenses and sales, and calculate her profit/breakeven points. Seeing Miriam’s face light up as she realized how easy it was to not only use Excel, but to efficiently manage her business, made me forget the 30 hours of flying, my jetlag, and my caffeine headache. I was amazed at how she was very passionate about wanting to do something more with her life beyond what she saw as her duty as a mother and wife. She immediately had all sorts of ideas as to how she could better balance her numbers, and sell her product.
National Pride
Besides the passion and energy that filled the conference rooms, there was a strong undercurrent of national pride that to me was both unexpected and moving. During a coaching panel, three MENA women presented their companies to a panel of U.S business experts who gave the women advice on how to tackle their problems. One woman ran a local marketing agency which is well known throughout Egypt, but she had trouble finding good talent because most students go abroad to study and rarely return to their home country. One Arab woman at this panel made jewelry and was very passionate about her market because she felt that the UAE lacks national products. Her business would help boost tourism and preserve their national culture. I was struck by their desires to contribute to the economic growth of their home country while raising awareness of their country’s heritage and culture. During a bus ride from one of the evening events, I sat next to a young woman who was active in politics in Lebanon. Her voice was passionate as she explained the importance of staying in Lebanon, and in particular, her home village, where her entrepreneurial goal was to grow her father’s olive business within the local markets. It made me reflect on how contrasting our views were: I had very little interest in staying in my hometown of Northern Virginia and I questioned whether my desire to move away from my family was due to my self-interest or opportunistic values.
In hindsight
Upon my arrival to Abu Dhabi, I had no idea what to expect of the culture and the people. Their actions and demeanor to me at times came across as insistent, but I reminded myself that these women face so much more adversity being a female in such a male-dominated culture. For them to succeed and be selected to attend this conference is an honor. I was aware that I would be meeting women who were eager to start their own businesses and I was curious about these diverse ventures. I was completely taken aback by WHY they wanted to start their own business. Their self-driven ambition was inspiring, especially since many of them had significant family responsibilities as well. Some women had inherited their companies from their fathers and were determined to put their previous careers aside to keep the business alive. These businesses were often located in male-dominated sectors and the women slowly built the trust and respect of their fathers’ male peers. Some had grown accustomed to the politics of wars that slowed their economy, but that did not deter them from growing their businesses, or more importantly, sharing their stories at the MENA businesswoman’s conference.
©2006. The Beyster Institute and its authors and their entities. All rights reserved.
|
|
