Seminar shines spotlight on Palestinian female entrepreneurs

The Faculty of Business and Economics at Birzeit University organized a seminar to celebrate three success stories of entrepreneurial Palestinian women in a seminar entitled “Pioneering Palestinian Women,” on March 17, 2018.

The women - Iman Wadi, Maha Abu Shosha, and Manal Zreiq -  are all graduates of Birzeit University. Wadi majored in electrical engineering and was the third female student to graduate from the program in the early 90s. In 2005, she started an elevator company, which is now considered one of the biggest in Palestine.

Abu Shosha graduated from the university in the mid-80s. Since then, she’s been running a contracting firm founded by her father, which she expanded into new markets and territories.

Zreiq graduated from Birzeit University in the early 90s and is a founding partner of Massar International and the first Palestinian businesswoman to receive the Economic Empowerment Award.

Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics Dr. Grace Khoury noted that the seminar was held in preparation for the Entrepreneurship Conference, which will be held on April 11 and will feature entrepreneurial women.

The three businesswomen recapped the challenges and difficulties they had to overcome on their way to success and concurred that women have to put in many times as much effort as men do to prove themselves.