The Business Women Forum (BWF) was founded in 2006 as a non-profit organization to strengthen the role of businesswomen in the Palestinian economy. BWF operates a Business Development Center (BDC) that provides services like legal assistance, consulting, coaching, training, and help accessing finance to support women-owned small and medium enterprises. Between 2009-2013, the number of BDC beneficiaries grew from 10 to 90, and it helped 18 businesses formally register, 15 start operations, and 70 develop their businesses. The BDC also connected entrepreneurs to training, mentoring, and helped increase some businesses' sales by 20%.

1. Women are the Catalyst of
change

2. Factors Influencing Palestinian
Women’s Economic Engagement
• Political instability
• Legal and regulatory environment
• Business licensing and registration procedures
• Lack of Business Development Centers for Women
• Limited Access to Finance opportunities.
• Limited Access to information on marketing and
networking.
• Cultural and traditional barriers.
• No representation of business women in the public-Private
dialogue.

4. BWF
Founded
2006
Membership based None Profit
organization

5. Mission
Strengthen
the role of businesswomen in the Palestinian economy

6. BWF Strategic Direction
SG 1: Supporting the establishment and growth of women owned SMEs and
entrepreneurs
SG 2: Building capacities and skills of women entrepreneurs to manage an enterprise
SG 3: Advocating the value of women entrepreneurs in the Palestinian economy.
SG 4: Strengthening the organizational capacity of the BWF

7. Moving Forward

8. Pillars
Building
Capacity
Encouraging
Entrepreneu
rship
Networking
Advocacy
Coaching
Mentorship

9. We Serve

10. Members with the Power to Influence
71
Members
3 out 100
FORBES
4 Elected
Municipality
Ramallah /
Nablus
1 Elected
Chamber of
Commerce
Ramallah
1 member
International
Court of
Arbitration
2 out of 50
top executives
in Telecom
sector at
Comms-MEA
2012

11. Partners

12. Business Development Center for Women
BDC primarily aims to enable businesswomen and
female entrepreneurs to develop their
businesses and build up their competitive
advantage

13. Services of BDC
Legal services and advice
Technical assistance such as
consulting services, coaching and
counseling

14. Services of BDC
Access to credit information and
support:
A) linkages to credit institutions,
B) Market research and information,
Management training and technical
support.

15. Increasing of Beneficiaries
Date 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of
Beneficiaries
0 10 54 80 90

16. Capacity Building of Women SME’s
• 18 Paid Private Consultancy =$ 58450
• 130 counseling sessions were held.
• 500hours were spent on B2B counseling sessions.
• 10entrepreneurs were matched with Google mentorship Program.
• 60 BDC beneficiaries were connected with other trainings conducted by BWF
partners.
• 5women in traditional Palestinian Embroidery fashion and jewelry were matched
with a designer over video conference from London.
• 40tailored training workshops were conducted , 1100women have
participated.
• 18 SME were supported with Promotional material for their businesses.

18. Success Story

19. “Al Themar”label before

20. Business and Product development/
Packaging Development AlThemar Co.
Label After:

21. Received Intensive Training and B2B coaching

22. Impact
• 18 SME’s formally registered
• 15 SME’s started
• 70 SME’s developed
• 22 SME’s have increased their sales by 20%
• Social Impact
• %60 of the members have enhanced their
leadership skills Improved
• Better financial status and income.

23. Lessons learned
• Topics of trainings for beneficiaries are built
according to a needs assessment mapping BDC
beneficiaries, through contracting experienced
consultants.
• More explosion to multimedia and social media
means was conducted to grab the attention of
beneficiaries.
• More opportunities of the representation of BWF are
given to all members and staff according to specialty,
and not only exclusive for founding members.

24. Where to find us?
Al-Fare’ Bldg, 2nd Fl. Al-Baluu’ – Palestine
www.bwf.ps
www.facebook.com/BusinessWomenForum