Entrepreneurship for women in the Arab countries

Ghizlane Echorrouque, Morocco

We believe that now we have reached awareness among young men and women in all Arab regions about the importance of the private project or entrepreneurship, as there is a great movement from the government sector and also from the private sector to support entrepreneurship, and the people are thinking of doing business more than just a job, we have reached awareness and more orientation towards entrepreneurship.

Since there are many Arab business incubators that provide assistance to entrepreneurs, specifically women entrepreneurs, adopting the culture of working from home and the culture of e-commerce in any field business; Where there are national funds to support new projects, and where the owners undergo courses to understand the mechanisms of establishing projects and companies, in order to ensure the validity of their ideas for application before establishing the project,

Most of the Arab women in the old days used to face a kind of lack of confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities; the feeling of inability to establish and run a business due to the lack of successful female role models in the field; but in recent years, many young women are starting their small businesses using their social media platforms such as Instagram to market their products including startups in the services sectors of shipping, shopping, social media development, and home services; as it has also been a platform for women entrepreneurs to build network of relationships for the ability to mix so as to obtain funding from certain destinations, while we find that the network of relationships among men is already greater. It is known that in the field of business, the formation of relationships, the search for partners, and the transfer of knowledge from people with experience in the market is very important. Whereas the culture of entrepreneurship in general is concentrated among males, so that most of the leading companies in the world are established by males. The Arab society exerts a kind of pressure on women by virtue of its view of women as the person responsible for the family and children.


Some men may accept an Arab businesswoman, with whom he has no kinship, and he may support her as well, but the matter may be completely different when it comes to his wife for example;
By virtue of the nature of the Arab man, to be always dependent on his wife in everything related to the children, cooking, running and managing the house, taking care of him personally, and providing conditions of complete comfort for the husband, as he is the breadwinner for the family.


So that society was looking at or limiting the idea of ​​women to establish a private project when they are in need of income, and it was not taken seriously that they are actually able to compete with men and provide a product that has value in terms of quality and idea.


Women may consider that they are betting on their social life when they decide to succeed in the field of business, as they may face a problem in the practical, life or social balance.


While female entrepreneurs social media influencers has proven the possibility of establishing a balance between their social and business lives by sharing their everyday business routine and tips to female beginners in the business field as the saying “if she can do it, I can do it” trying to getting them out off their comfort zone and changing mindsets and start to believe in their dreams and ideas and push them to work in order to bring them out to the real world; this motivational part can end the gender stereotypes that is affecting the women’s rights to creativity and leadership, these Arab female entrepreneurs who started from scratch has changed the view of Arab society for women entrepreneurs to respect and appreciation.