How To Prevent The Pandemic From Taking A Greater Toll On Women Entrepreneurs

Geri Stengel with Forbes examines trends in women business owners, what small business owners face during the coronavirus pandemic, resources helping women business owners navigate the outbreak, the importance of equal economic participation, and the economic and societal benefit of diversity in entrepreneurship.

“In this time of great need, it behooves the entire women's entrepreneurial ecosystem — policymakers, funders, supporting organizations, educators, researchers, the media, and the women themselves — to take swift bold action to expand or create policies that will address women's specific needs,” Stengel says.

Read below and click through to read the entire article.

By Geri Stengel, Forbes

Between 2007 to 2012 — the period before and after the Great Recession — the number of women-owned businesses jumped 27% while privately held businesses grew only 3.3%, according to the Survey of Business Owners by the Census. Average revenues for women's businesses decreased from $154,300 in 2007 to $143,700 in 2012 and privately held businesses revenue grew from $417,400 to $440,200 during the same period. One reason for the decline in revenue among women's businesses was a surge in startups, which had not yet achieved their full revenue potential. Another reason is that many of these businesses were necessity businesses: The entrepreneur's only viable employment option was to start a business. These entrepreneurs also tend to be sidepreneurs, working only part-time.

Like the canaries in the coal mine, women's businesses were already experiencing a downturn. Their numbers increased by 5.4% between 2018 and 2019, privately held companies only increased by 2.4%, according to the American Express 2019 State of Women-Owned Businesses.* However, after a slow but steady rise, women-owned businesses' average revenues declined from $143,100 in 2018 to $142,900 in 2019, while all privately held businesses rose from $468,000 to $474,900.

On the flip side: Women are also going for the brass ring. Between 2007 and 2012, million-dollar-plus women-owned businesses increased by 21% compared to 3.3% for all privately held businesses and between 2018 and 2019, it was 4.2% compared to 2.4%, respectively. These are the women I write about in this column.

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10 Stats That Build the Case for Investing in Women-Led Startups

Women-led startups don't just provide women entrepreneurs with opportunities—they're sound investments. From solving tech problems and fighting bias to efficiency and determination, women have had to have it all to make it in the startup scene. And from higher revenue and return on investment to performance and growth, they're making it work. Here, Forbes looks at 10 statistics that make a strong case for investing in women-led businesses.

By Allyson Kapin

The next Steve Jobs will be a woman. She understands how to solve a specific problem facing this world by leveraging tech. She knows the diverse and inclusive team it will take to build the product and implement solutions. She’s an experienced entrepreneur who knows how to operate with the leanest resources because, let’s face it, she’s had no choice considering how VCs have invested 98 percent of their capital in startups led by men. And the women-led startups that did raise capital, on average, raised 36 times less money in 2017 than those founded by men, according to PitchBook Data Inc.

But is the tide turning as more VCs diversify the startups in their portfolio? For example, Indie.vc, a fund founded by Bryce Roberts, (and currently accepting applications for their next round of investments) has been intentional about recruiting women-led startups since it launched and 50 percent of their portfolio is comprised of startups founded or cofounded by women. Golden Seeds has also focused on significantly diversifying their portfolio with women-led startups. Make no mistake though, these VC funds are not funding women-led startups as charity. They are investing in women founders because they understand the strong ROI of investing in diverse startups.

Here are 10 stats that build the case for investing in women-led startups. If you’re an investor, print this list out and post it on your wall to remind yourself to stop leaving money on the table. If you work with investment associates on your team, tape yellow sticky notes to their laptops so they never forget this money-making data.

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Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg

These Angel Investors Want to Bring Women Into Startups Early—And Get Them Equity

An investor group known as #Angels wants to bring more diversity and gender equality to startups. Long the domain of privileged, single, white men; the startup ecosystem and everyone involved in it will benefit when more women and other underrepresented minorities are supported. Women are taking risks, and #Angels are helping them—reaching out to startups to allocate more shares to women, helping women and other underrepresented people negotiate for equity, hosting an investing boot camp, and pushing for companies to disclose the diversity of their capitalization tables—which lay out ownership stakes in a startup—the same way they've disclosed other measures of equality. Click through to watch the interview and read more about how #Angels are making sure women employees get their fair share—and that more women are supporting one another all the way to the top; including ownership, wealth, and equity.

By Julia Boorstin

Silicon Valley is still under fire for its lack of diversity. At tech giants like Apple and Google, women still comprise less than a third of employees, and female founders drew just 2 percent of VC dollars last year.

One group of female angel investors is working on a plan they hope will help close those gaps by honing in on the nexus of power: the allocation of shares to founding employees of startups. This investing collective of six former Twitter executives, called #Angels, says that if more women have representation on the cap table — the legal document that lays out equity stakes in a company — that will help boost female leadership and wealth creation, and turn more women into VC investors who can back women-run startups. #Angels is focused on educating women and men alike on the value of bringing in female executives early and giving them shares.

"There's four groups of people who make significant wealth and who are on the cap table. It's founders, it's early executives, it's early employees and it's investors," says Chloe Sladden, one of the #Angels. "We know that women and underrepresented minorities do not make up those groups significantly. So our concern is if women and underrepresented minorities are not part of the cap table, they are not part of the wealth and power that shapes Silicon Valley."

Image credit: #Angels

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Angel investors help UAE’s women entrepreneurs spread their wings

thenational.ae - Elissa Freiha, an Emirati of Lebanese descent, and Chantalle Dumonceaux, a Canadian-American, are the founders of the Dubai-based women’s angel investment platform Womena. The pair met as students at the American University of Paris in 2008 and after graduation, both showed an interest in angel investing: Ms Dumonceaux, 27, joined Gust, a New York-based platform which manages group venture capital deal flow, and Ms Freiha, 26, became an active angel investor. In 2013, the women moved to the UAE together to set up their own manager-led investment platform. In total Womena has invested US$462,000 into companies in the UAE, most recently joining fund-raising rounds for comparison site Souqalmal and online insurance platform Bayzat. Elissa Freiha (EF): When looking at the global start-up environment, Silicon Valley is the main one but it’s very saturated, and Europe tends to be very traditional. The UAE has a lot of dynamics that made it an ideal breeding ground for early stage angel investment. There’s a lot of funding here that’s not yet stimulated, and most importantly, Dubai has this insatiable desire to innovate and grow bigger, despite all of the challenges that we go through in this region.

This Is What It's Like For Female Entrepreneurs In Afghanistan

After decades of war and instability, social entrepreneurs are stepping up to help move Afghan society forward--especially when it comes to women-led startups, in an environment where women face obstacles to other employment paths and women entrepreneurship is set to affect an even greater change than in some other areas. This feature from Fast Company details the many challenges and goals faced by women entrepreneurs and those who support them in Afghanistan.

fastcompany.com - It's been 15 years since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan. In the capital city of Kabul—the world’s fifth-fastest-growing urban population, which jumped from half a million in 2001 to over 4.6 million—the Afghan government struggles against a worsening humanitarian situation. As U.S. and NATO troops continue to withdraw, so do international aid workers.

Typically, the burden of international problems such as poverty, disaster, and war are left exclusively to governments and nonprofit organizations. In recent years, a new approach has emerged. Social entrepreneurs are spearheading job growth and stability, and a burgeoning private sector seeks to stabilize the economy and break the dependency on foreign aid.

They walk a fragile line. They must build networks with trusted government workers, the international business community, young students, and professionals. Many Afghan business leaders hope to attract investors who will bet on them to secure hard-won gains in human rights, especially for women.

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What Does It Mean to Be a Millennial Founder in This Economy?

tech.co - Millennials are poor, and poor people don’t have the freedom to become entrepreneurs.

How bad is it? As previously covered , 63 percent of millennials can’t scrape together 500 dollars with no notice, and 79 percent are concerned that they will never have a retirement plan. The result is a significant drop in millennial founders: The average successful startup founder is in his or her 40s, according to data from the Kaufman Foundation. In this article, we’ll dig into the most recent data surrounding the state of our economy and how millennial founders are working around it — or aren’t working around it, as the case may be.

A joint public opinion survey from Economic Innovation Group (EIG) and professional services firm EY polled 1,200 millennials in order to learn more about them. Here’s a few of the most interesting takeaways.

“Even though 62 percent of Millennials have considered starting a business and 51 percent know someone who started or worked for a startup, only 22 percent believe entrepreneurship is the best way to advance their career.” “42 percent of Millennials lament that they don’t have the financial means to start a business. Across demographics, white men are least concerned with finance, with only 40 percent citing it as the biggest obstacle compared to 53 percent for black women and 59 percent for Hispanic women.”

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How an Entrepreneur Should Approach a Pitch

Womena is a Dubai-based, women-only angel investor group serving the Middle East and North Africa, or the MENA region. Through professional networking, investment guidance and thorough research on startups in the region, Womena connects promising startups in the growing economy with high-net-worth women investors. Here, Womena shares insights on the importance of pitching when raising funds for a startup.  

womena.co - Strong pitching skills are critical to a startup’s success. To receive investment at any stage of the funding life cycle, a startup will usually need to pitch many times, be it to WOMENA members or a venture capitalist. Entrepreneurs may find themselves pitching their company hundreds of times over the company’s lifetime. Hence, it’s important an entrepreneur hones these pitching skills early on for the best chance of success. While the pitching process may seem mystifying and intimidating at first, there are a few simple things an entrepreneur can do to boost their chances of success.

Check out successful pitches online

There are a plethora of websites out there with advice on what to include in a pitch and videos of startups pitching at demo days around the world. These give you a really good idea of what you need to do and you can pick and choose the best parts from each pitch you watch. Do this before you prepare your own pitch, particularly if it’s your first time.

Refine your pitch to the audience

Every pitch is different but most entrepreneurs give the same pitch to each investor. Entrepreneurs pitching to the WOMENA members might want to highlight how their company is targeting women, for example. The point is that each investor is different and each pitch should be too to reflect that difference.

Keep it short and snappy

An investor might hear dozens of pitches over the course of the week. If an entrepreneur doesn’t hack it right from the start, the rest of the pitch is going to be an unnecessary uphill battle. Immediately, tell them who you are, what the problem is and how your company will solve it. If your pitch is more than 10 minutes long, then you’re entering dangerous territory – the investor’s attention is probably waning (if it hasn’t already gone completely) and you need to wrap up quickly to keep that attention.

Back up what you’re saying with numbers

Numbers are an excellent and simple way to show the strength of your business and/or market. They’re easily digestible and can provide considerable insight. Make sure you know relevant statistics, you can back them up (i.e. you don’t make them up on the spot) and understand what these numbers mean. It’s very easy to state an incorrect stat but it’s so much harder to recover once you’ve been caught out.

Practice!

The idiom practice makes perfect really does hold true when it comes to pitching. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will be pitching to investors. Practice with friends, colleagues, advisors … anyone really. Get feedback too! The people you practice with could have some very useful advice.

Look the part

Startup founders’ dress is often associated with jeans, hoodies and T-shirts à la Mark Zuckerberg. While that might be the standard dress at work, it might come off poorly to a potential investor who doesn’t have a similar tech background. Notice too how Mark Zuckerberg has smartened up in recent years? There’s a reason behind that. You want to look respectable and show the investor you mean business. This doesn’t mean wear a suit and tie: that would probably look a little odd unless you’re pitching to a very formal investor or investment company.

Visit Womena.co to learn more about Womena's efforts, like the group on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Women take more risks than you think — which makes them a better investment

latimes.com - Start-ups led by women generate higher returns. Research shows this again and again. Investment firm First Round Capital looked at 300 companies it seeded between 2005 and 2015, and found that those with a woman among the founders performed 63% better than ones founded just by men. The Kauffman Foundation reported that female tech entrepreneurs generated, on average, a 35% higher return on investment than their male counterparts.

And yet, investors hand men, not women, the money. A lot more money. Researchers at Babson College found that over a two-year period, companies with a female CEO received $1.5 billion in venture capital dollars, while companies led by men received $49.3 billion. That means for every $1 invested in companies led by women, about $34 went to companies led by men.

What’s going on here? It’s not that there are 34 times more male entrepreneurs. Women own 31% of all privately held firms in the United States. Nor can we shrug and say men simply have a lock on superior business ideas. According to a 2014 research study led by Alison Wood Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School, when men and women pitched the same idea, investors were 60% more likely to invest when a man proposed it.

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TiECon 2016: Leading entrepreneurship conference hits CA this May

Networking events and entrepreneurship conferences are a great way for women entrepreneurs to meet potential investors as well executives to join their leadership team. Many entrepreneurs look forward to certain conferences each year to find partners, clients and prospective board members.  One of the more popular annual entrepreneurship conferences is TiECon, put together by the The Indus Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

Scheduled for May 6 – 7, 2016 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California; and featuring more than 200 speakers and 100 exhibitors, TiECon 2016 is expected to draw more than 4,600 registrants at the two-day event. TiECon 2016 will offer multiple tracks on cutting edge technology topics; including Future of Cloud and IT, the Internet of Things, Data Economy, Trending Technologies and Social Entrepreneurship.

Many of the prominent speakers at this year’s conference are women—including Diane Greene, senior vice president of Google's cloud businesses; Lorie Wigle, general manager at Intel; and Varsha Rao, head of global operations at Airbnb.

Additionally, the conference will explore topics relevant to a startup; like talent acquisition and retention, funding options, and differentiating the company and products in a competitive environment. This year, TiE50, the coveted awards program for startups will screen more than 2,300 applications from 17 countries. The top 100 startups selected will attend TiECon 2016 and present before an audience.

For more information on the conference and to register, visit www.tiecon.org

These Founders Are Living Their Mission to Empower Women

mydomaine.com - MYDOMAINE: How did you meet and come up with the idea for Above the Glass?

HEATHER SERDEN: We met probably between the fifth and seventh grade. So Above the Glass was something I was working on, and I needed someone to help execute the editorial site. My background is in finance, and Danielle is a small-business owner with an editorial background.

DANIELLE YADEGAR: I was a fashion editor at Cosmopolitan. And then I started my own (jewelry) business.

HS: I wasn’t sitting there thinking I want to start a business. I actually met Katherine Power in 2011 when [Who What Wear was] thinking about taking on institutional investment. The COO at the time learned that I could do financial modeling, so she hired me to build a story with numbers to present to potential investors. There was a huge learning curve. I learned so much about digital businesses. And then I did the same thing with a few other businesses on a consulting basis and for my master’s thesis. I realized that there was a lot of uncertainty or fear around the business and financial aspects of starting up. I had the knowledge and the background to help these female founders. Then I had this experience. I was in the workplace and didn’t really believe sexism was real. I thought the playing field was level. But when you get older, employers start looking at you differently. They think, “Oh this person is on the mommy track.” And I was like, wait a minute, I need to go do my own thing. I know how to do it. There are a bunch of women who don’t know how to do it, so that’s going to be my business.

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Meet The Woman Empowering Entrepreneurs To Change The World

Despite recent encouraging gains, there remains a large gap between women and men when it comes to entrepreneurship. Almost all venture capital-backed businesses are led by men, for example; and the road to startup success is often much more difficult for women, hampered by issues including connections and access to capital. That's why we were so excited to read about Circular Board and Pitch With Purpose, efforts by Houston entrepreneur Carolyn Rodz to educate and empower women entrepreneurs. She's truly a woman investing in women--and helping them invest in themselves and their visions. forbes.com - Carolyn Rodz, the founder of business accelerator Circular Board, is on a relentless drive to help female entrepreneurs change the world.

Rodz, based in Houston, Texas, is heading a major upcoming pitch competition, Pitch with Purpose. The competition is for women whose businesses are fast growing and focused on social good – and female entrepreneurs applying technology and great insight to this aim are expected to play a major part.

Given that in the developing world working women typically invest 90% of their earnings back into their family and community, and that women are more likely to create social enterprises, Rodz says, it is essential to the world to support their entrepreneurship.

Typically, a number of issues hamper female entrepreneurs’ success – including what Rodz has described as a lack of clarity of purpose; how, when and how they choose to access capital; and relationships with mentors and partners.

Empowerment and support are essential in their success. “Women are driving forces of social change,” Rodz tells me.

Read more here.

Women-led Startups in India Face Discrimination from Investors?

Despite a patriarchal attitude that persists throughout much of the country and negative stereotypes when it comes to women in business, there has been rise of female entrepreneurship in India in recent decades. However, there is a long way to go, and women still struggle to obtain funding in an investing and business world dominated by men--and biased attitudes. Only 9 percent of the 800 or so startups founded each year in India are led by women. thequint.com - It was a cracking idea. The market was ready and she could gauge a customer base. The research was air-tight and she found a team that agreed to work. But, the problem was with her. She was a woman and that matters in the exclusive, harsh, male-dominated world of investors.

More than 800 startups join the Indian ecosystem every year. On an average, three to four startups are registered every day. The figures may be celebratory in nature, but out of this, only 9 percent are led by women.

Sounds unlikely but in the business world, even company heads need to pass a "sex-determination test". Many women founders and startup leads in India accept that they face gender-discrimination from venture capitalists and investors during funding.

Thirty-one-year-old Priyanka Agrawal always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

"I had a 'keeda' within me to prove to a typical Indian Marwari mindset that women can build a source of income independently through their own ventures. When I decided to start something of my own, the one and only rule I made was to not take help from my dad."

Read more here.

Angel investors fly high with WOMENA

WOMENA_Fourth pitch meeting_03-25-2015_6

Women have long been known to control much of family finances, and wealthy women often play important roles as philanthropists and volunteers in their communities. But what isn’t always recognized, especially in the Middle East, is the direct role high-net-worth women can play in investing. One group is working to remedy this by investing in women who will invest in startups—helping female angels spread their wings, and raising up both entrepreneurs and investors in a diverse and growing economy. Launched in November 2014, WOMENA is the MENA region’s first all-female investment group. The group serves as a connection between angel investors and startups, as well as an educational community where members can learn more about seed investment and their potential role in the economy.

Through education, networking, vetting startups and mentoring; WOMENA guides women angel investors through the process of investing.

Middle East Investment Landscape

WOMENA launched during a time of impressive growth of the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem in the Middle East. Only a few years ago, there was very little investment in innovation and entrepreneurship but in the last couple of years, this growth has begun to explode.

Despite growth in the region, barriers remain for both investors and entrepreneurs. Possible investment funds are much more limited in size and there is a large funding gap past an investment round of $500,000 that needs to be addressed.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. As the infographic below shows, the number of investments more than tripled between 2009 and 2012, and the vast majority of investors expect to invest in the region in the next couple of years.

Women have an important role to play in the Middle East investment landscape, and WOMENA is positioning itself as an avenue for women to become involved. With case studies like Springboard, there is consistent evidence that women can made a significant impact on the landscape.

MENA-Investment-Landscape

Making investing accessible

WOMENA_Chantalle Dumonceaux

Womena’s cofounders, Elissa Freiha and Chantalle Dumonceaux, certainly know about education and research. From their early days of collaboration, Freiha and Dumonceaux knew they wanted to create something to fill a need in the investing community. They found there was a lack of a platform for women to invest in startup companies and to play a direct role in growing the economy.

A lack of education—combined with being outnumbered in a field that is predominantly male, and often feeling too intimidated to ask many questions—left many women out of investing circles completely. Freiha and Dumonceaux wanted to forge a way to make investing accessible to women—and to utilize women as the indispensable member of the economy they knew them to be.

WOMENA: Innovation, Investment and Inclusion

Their solution was to serve as a facilitator between high-net-worth women who were interested in angel investing, and startup businesses in the Middle East that had high potential. WOMENA discovers entrepreneurs who need funds to grow their businesses. They research the companies and interview the entrepreneurs to determine the viability of the businesses, and once a month they host a meeting in which two or three startups pitch to WOMENA's investors. The meetings are held in inviting locales like an art gallery, entrepreneurship center and a garden, but they're far from casual meetings.

Perhaps most importantly, WOMENA aims to make investing the inspirational, fun, connection-driven, human experience they know it can be.

Angel investors

WOMENA_Launch_10-01-2014

WOMENA members are proactive women who want to impact their community and be involved in economic growth. The organization must invite each investor to join, so it's a select and elite group: Members must have the funds to withstand the risk of investment, and they must pay an annual membership fee and commit to a minimum investment. But most of all WOMENA looks for potential investors to be excited and motivated to use their resources—financial, networking and personal—to bolster the economy and encourage entrepreneurs.

Members attend meetings where pre-screened entrepreneurs present their businesses for funding, after which WOMENA facilitates the entire investment process from deal source to deal close while educating members with individual and group coaching.

The more a member invests in presenting companies, the more value they get out of their membership. Members are asked to invest in at least one company per year. The minimum ticket is $5,000 USD (approximately 18,000 AED). It is suggested that members make three to five investments per year to diversify their portfolios and mitigate risk. In the first year of membership, members are not required to invest. After the first year, WOMENA requests that members utilize their membership to the fullest extent possible and participate in at least one investment per year.

Entrepreneurs

WOMENA_Elissa Freiha

Unlike angel investors, WOMENA welcomes entrepreneurs who are men or women, but they have stringent standards for who they work with—all aimed at nurturing the startup ecosystem and each member of their process.

Entrepreneurs receive access to industry leaders, start-up service providers and other crucial contacts for fledgling companies. WOMENA is looking for companies that are based in the MENA region and are raising $150,000 to $750,000 USD (550,000 – 2,750,000 AED) to sustain them for twelve to eighteen months. Among other qualities the group seeks are companies that are highly scalable and innovative and those that solve a big problem in an underserved market.

Entrepreneurs can find an application form online. Once WOMENA receives the initial application, they will ask for more information and set up a phone call to discuss the company and conduct initial due diligence. Once this is complete, entrepreneurs will be invited to apply. Approximately 5 percent of applicants are selected to present in front of members.

WOMENA seeks businesses that can multiply an investment by a factor of ten over a five-year period. Companies that fit the bill tend to be in fields including ecommerce, software, life sciences, telecommunication, energy, wholesale services and retail services.

WOMENA_Second pitch meeting_01-24-2015_1

Making connections, growing businesses

WOMENA offers more to entrepreneurs than funding. The organization believes in more than funding: They operate on the conviction that through investment in the right entrepreneurs and startups, investors—including women—can help create jobs, promote economic growth, and make a difference. This conviction translates to devotion from the angel investors that takes many forms.

Members of the group have networks and resources they use to help new companies. Collectively, members can help entrepreneurs with business development, relationships with suppliers and distributors, marketing, finding employees, strategy and almost any other resources or network needed in the region. These are more than social gatherings. They're movements.

Investors receive more than facilitated deals, too. In partnership with financial institutions, corporates, and development organizations, WOMENA hosts half-day workshops for high-net-worth women and other aspiring angel investors covering all facets of angel investment. To help foster the startup ecosystem, WOMENA also provides quarterly half-day workshops to educate entrepreneurs on fundraising.

Ladies Who Launch

WOMENA_Sixth pitch meeting_06-15-2015_7

The platform got its official start November 1, 2014, when almost 50 leading women from across the Middle East gathered in Dubai to celebrate the launch of WOMENA at their inaugural event, “Ladies Who Launch.” The event had guests travelling from as far away as Silicon Valley and Turkey, from many different industry sectors and cultures.

The launch was followed shortly by the first pitch meeting December 10, where Kamal Hassan and Bern Shen also gave short presentations to members on angel investing; and companies Melltoo, Feesheh and Eventtus presented to members. Within a few weeks, Melltoo had received an investment.

A second pitch meeting was held January 24 at the Art Sawa Gallery in Al Quoz, Dubai; where members heard from AlemHealth and Apptuto. February 21 saw the their pitch meeting, also at the gallery, where attendees heard from Crowd Analyzer and MediaWave. The gathering drew record attendance despite a sandstorm sweeping the city. WOMENA, like the women it serves, had become an unflagging force.

The first woman angel

WOMENA-Logo

Even the organization’s logo has an entrepreneurial success story behind it: the number five three times, for 555 C.E., the birth year of Sayyida Khadija, or Khadija the Great.

Khadija came from a rich family in Saudi Arabia. A quick study in finance and business, she took over her father’s business after he passed away, started her own business, and flourished in a male-dominated economy and society. She was married three times and widowed twice, all the while maintaining her generosity and unflagging support for those around her, before she met Mohammed. It was a meeting of hearts and minds, and though Mohammed offered to support his wife financially, Khadija preferred to wed for his nobility, loyalty and love. She remained financially independent throughout their marriage—for 25 years—and became the Prophet Mohammed’s first follower.

WOMENA_Third pitch meeting_02-01-2015_1

It might be a legendary example, but Khadija’s story should sound familiar to many angel investors in the MENA region: She loved her friends and family, served her community, and ran a business empire. Her strengths as a woman in her community became her strengths as a businesswoman and investor.

Calling her “a true role model for the ages,” WOMENA’s website also notes: “She was a wife, a mother, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, an angel investor and an inspiration.”

Working together; Freiha, Dumonceaux and countless other women from the region are inspirations for a new day—and a new way of seeing investing in the Middle East.

To learn more, visit WOMENA's website, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

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