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Success Stories Highlight Women’s Day Event in Tunisia
Essma Ben Hamida, the founder of Enda, a pioneering microfinance lender in Tunisia, knew from an early age the damaging effects of gender inequality. She grew up in a society where men held the purse strings and women were discouraged from going to university or getting a job outside the home.
“Every day, my widowed mother had to ask her father for a stipend for the family’s meals,” Ben Hamida recalled last week during an IFC-sponsored event marking International Women’s Day. That made me conscious of the importance of access to finance for women as a way for them to recover their dignity and improve their lives.”
Those experiences inspired Ben Hamida to found Enda, which has handed out almost one million loans over the last two decades, the vast majority of them to women.
Ben Hamida was among dozens of female entrepreneurs and IFC clients who attended the event in Tunis last week, which included a handicraft exhibition by local women entrepreneurs. The event was attended by Dorothy Berry, Vice President for Human Resources, Administration and Communications and Dimitris Tsitsiragos, Vice President for EMENA.
During the day, participants from Bulgaria, Hungary, Jordan, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, Pakistan, Romania,Tajikistan, and Tunisia shared their experiences and talked about ways to promote gender equality. The key, many said, is harnessing the entrepreneurial energy of female business owners.
“Women in the private sector represent a powerful source of economic growth and opportunity,” said Dorothy Berry, IFC Vice President for Human Resources, Administration, and Communications. “Across developing countries, it is estimated that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with female ownership represent 30 to 37 percent (8 million to 10 million) of all SMEs.”
Among those who attended the conference was Maya Georgieva, member of the supervisory board of the First Investment Bank of Bulgaria. “It was very important to share our experience and hear from all the female participants,” she said. “I’d like to thank IFC for creating gender finance programs around the world. (This work) can inspire thousands of minds globally.”
Ben Hamida says upending gender stereotypes is possible, but it will take a concerted effort. She pointed to her mother, who despite being deprived of education, insisted that her daughters go to university.
“She worked very hard sewing, knitting,and weaving carpets to pay for the extra expenses.” That sacrifice has inspired the work of Ben Hamida and Enda, which has helped more than 300,000 micro-entrepreneurs.
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