Promoting Women Empowerment for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in the MENA Region

In the framework of the project "Promoting Women Empowerment for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in the MENA Region" (see page The Project), UNIDO, with the support of Promos, organized an international conference and business meetings for women's associations and women entrepreneurs in the MENA Region.

The program has been structured as follows:

14 October 2015

International Conference at the Expo 2015 Site

at the presence of 124 Italian and Mediterranean Participants

15 October 2015

663 Business Meetings among 117 Italian and Mediterranean companies

Sectors involved: textile, agro-food, jewelry, fashion, construction and engineering.

16 October 2015

3 Technical Tours for 70 Mediterranean participants with focus on:

  1. Agro-Food (in collaboration with Parma Alimentare)
  2. Textile (in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Como)
  3. Jewellery (in collaboration with the Associazione Orafa Lombarda, Politecnico di Milano and the School Galdus)
 

The objectives of this program are:

  1. Establish a policy dialogue and propose recommendations, including concrete action points, through a roundtable discussion which will be based on the UNIDO report on women entrepreneurship in the MENA region.

  2. Sharing of business women’s experience at international level in order to support the promotion of a large network of women engaged in contributing to sustainable and inclusive development in their countries.

  3. Share good practices on relevant topics for women entrepreneurship development in the MENA and European regions such as: investment challenges and opportunities facing women entrepreneurs, business support services, innovation, access to finance, and the development of policy options and partnerships for promoting sustainable investment to foster inclusive growth.

  4. Promoting new international business partnerships through the organization of B2B meetings between MENA women entrepreneurs and foreign investors. A special focus will be put on innovative sectors, particularly agro-food and green industries that can contribute to sustainability and food security in the MENA region.

The Event will be the occasion for women from the MENA Region and from Europe to learn from their counterparts and to exchange experiences and best practices in various aspects of women entrepreneurship. It will therefore represent the public space for women’s advocacy to give voice to their experiences, aspirations, needs and also rights in order to promote a culture of knowledge sharing to strengthen women’s networks globally.

The Business Meetings will help to develop new connections between women business owners and for those facing challenges, the occasion to meet with other women that can act as driving force being models. This networking exercise will be supplemented by a technical tour in Northern Italy organized for the MENA Business Women Associations representatives and MENA women entrepreneurs and aiming at (1) strengthening the exchange of experiences and the identification of good practices in bringing direct support to women entrepreneurs and (2) reinforcing the networking with Italian counterparts.

 

Bilateral Talks

  • Participants165
  • Meetings Requested1223
  • Meetings Accepted444

Participants

Profile views

  • Before Event9077
  • After Event374509

Organizers

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Supported by

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Partners

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