Women entrepreneurs have become more successful than men in the last seven years in Bahrain, according to United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido).

The success rate of women entrepreneurs currently stands at 70 per cent compared with 40 per cent seven years ago,' Unido investment and technology promotion office head Dr Hashim Hussein said in a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Dr Hussein revealed this statistic to the GDN on the sidelines of a Women Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum held at the Elite Resort and Spa in Muharraq yesterday (November 19).

The forum, held under the patronage of Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro, was organised by the Bahrain Businesswomen Society (BBS) in collaboration with Unido.

The minister affirmed that the forum confirms the position of women in business and the trade sector in Bahrain as well as their participation in political and economic decision-making in the kingdom.

The event coincided with Women Entrepreneurs Day, which is part of Global Entrepreneurship Week from November 17 to 23.

“The number of women entrepreneurs in Bahrain has grown in the past seven years and now women entrepreneurs are outnumbering men,” said Dr Hussein said.

“The reason for their success is that women are more committed to their businesses in Bahrain.

“Generally men work at the same time while creating a business, so they are distracted - women generally devote all their time to the success of a business,” he added.

BBS entrepreneur committee head and forum organiser Batul Dadabhai said that the event was held to give entrepreneurs in Bahrain a chance to get all their business-related questions answered by a panel of experts.

She explained that within the last 10 years, women in Bahrain had become more empowered.

“Yes, we have seen in the last decade that women have really come out in the open and become more successful businesswomen,” said Dadabhai.

“Women in Bahrain are very lucky.

“We have a lot of freedom, we have a lot of support from the government and our own families.

“It is a really open environment that gives us the freedom to move forward and follow our dreams.”

BBS president Ahlam Janahi explained that with the support of governmental and external organisations, there has been a 40 per cent increase in women entrepreneurs in Bahrain in the past decade.

“According to the Economic Development Board report, the percentage of women entrepreneurs increased tremendously,” she said.

“It was a tremendous increase of 40 per cent within the past decade.

“According to Unido records, they have trained around 4,000 women in Bahrain.

“When I say trained, I mean that all those 4,000 women have commercial registration and are running businesses.

“It is a statistic that we (BBS) are proud of because they have all become successful businesswomen,” she said.

“We are expecting an increase of women entrepreneurs because the trend has changed globally - fresh graduates now don't think about being an employee anymore but think about starting a business,” she added.

“With more businesses, it means that there are more employment opportunities in Bahrain which is the model for an ideally functioning economy,” she said.

“The only thing we need now is to support them and give them guidance which is why we are hosting an event like this,” she added. - TradeArabia News Service