AFAEMME organized, with the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and ASCAME, the “First MEDA Women Entrepreneurs Forum”

In the middle, Mrs. Mª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen, President of AFAEMME, and Mrs. Beatriz Fdez-Tubau Rodes, General Secretary of AFAEMME, with the main representatives of Mediterranean countries attending the Forum. / PHOTO: LOURDES ACEDO

AFAEMME, the Association of Mediterranean Businesswomen organized, with the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and with ASCAME, the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Mediterranean, the First Meda Women Entrepreneurs Forum, which was held in the Casa Llotja de Mar of Barcelona on November 5th and 6th, 2009. This event, framed within the III Mediterranean Economic Leaders' Week, "has been a platform for dialogue and the exchange of experiences and a link for the creation of new commercial ties between different Mediterranean countries, due to the potential of networking provided by the entrepreneurial meetings”.

The Forum was attended by more than 200 women entrepreneurs from different business sectors belonging, among others, to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Palestinian Territories, Tunisia, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.

Some of the topics discussed during this two-day event included “The High Cost of Low Female Participation in the Economy” and “Women in Technology and Education”, subjects that were presented by some of the most renowned women entrepreneurs of the Mediterranean. Apart from this, best practices and women entrepreneur’s success stories from countries as diverse as Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria and Spain were shared with the audience. Moreover, the panels had the opportunity to answer questions that had been previously submitted by attendants through the Internet, as a way of approaching the speakers to the general public and making the Forum an interactive communication tool for the region.

The inauguration was attended by the Honorable Mr. Angel Losada, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Honorable Mr. Miquel Montilla, President of the Catalan Government, the Honorable Mr. Jordi Hereu, Mayor of Barcelona, Mr. Miquel Valls, President of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mr. Senen Florensa, General Director of the European Mediterranean Institute (IEMed).

Several presidents of AFAEMME member business organizations participated in the presentations: Ms. Flutura Xhabija (Albania), Ms. Amany Asfour (Egypt), Ms. Leila Karami (Lebanon), Ms. Laila Fatima Badraoui (Morocco), Ms. Reem Barghouty (Jordan), Ms. Gülsen Onanc (Turkey), Ms. Bedour Taha (Syria) and Ms. Beatriz Fernández - Tubau Rodes (Secretary General of AFAEMME).

Some points to consider in which the representatives of the Mediterranean countries agreed in reference to micro, small and medium enterprises and to self-employed were:

- 51% of the population in the Mediterranean are women

- The percentage of the worldwide wealth in the hands of women has fallen from 1% to 0.9% in the last 6 years

- Women achieve higher grades than men in universities

- Women are mainly responsible for global consumption

An important differential point discussed was the finding that in European countries 78% of the companies do not consider that stereotypes and the lack of managerial skills are reasons that hamper the position of women in management; a figure that contrasts with the situation in Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Syria, given that in this countries gender stereotypes are one of the major factors which allow no women in economic decision-making positions in companies.


Mrs. Mª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen during the closing ceremony of the Forum. / PHOTO: LOURDES ACEDO

The Forum was closed by the President of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Miquel Valls, Mr. Senen Florensa, General Director of the European Mediterranean Institute (IEMed), and Mrs. Mª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen, President of AFAEMME. De Felipe Lehtonen praised the quality of participants, their attendance and their interaction and billed as key recommendations the need to establish schools for women entrepreneurs by the local governing bodies to promote and support the female Entrepreneurship, the need of business schools taking into account the gender perspective when shaping future business leaders, the need to encourage the entrepreneurs participation in networks, to promote business female roles, to take on mentoring as a means of Entrepreneurship, to make working hours more flexible when this does not effect labour productivity, to introduce English teaching in primary schools, to create a database at an European level to facilitate networking and, above all, to implement the values of gender equality in the society, beginning with the education.

AFAEMME held its Annual General Meeting in Barcelona

Last November 5th, AFAEMME held its General Assembly and elections to the Board of Directors in Barcelona, coinciding with the celebration of the First MEDA Women Entrepreneurs Forum.

The event, which took place in AFAEMME’s Headquarters, was the occasion to bring together representatives from member organizations of Albania, Croatia, Egypt, France, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Spain and Turkey. In addition, during the event, AFAEMME welcomed new countries to its network which now includes members from Slovenia and Tunisia, who were present in the General Assembly, and Palestine.

During the meeting different topics were discussed, including the activities developed during 2008 and the current year, AFAEMME’s projects planned for 2010 and the expansion of the network, by including new countries and by adjoining new members in countries already hosting AFAEMME member organizations. Apart from this, the Assembly discussed the need of some countries to develop specific projects, such as the realization of statistical research on the situation of women in the labour market or the positioning of women in decision-making posts. In this frame, Mrs. Mª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen, President of AFAEMME, presented the report of the study carried out in Catalonia (Spain), called “Promotion of Women in Decision-Making Positions in the SMEs of Catalonia”.

Finally, and to close the sessions, AFAEMME’s elections to the Board of Directors were held, resulting elected Ms. Beatriz Fdez-Tubau as the new Secretary General and Ms. Flutura Xhabija as Treasurer. Mrs. M ª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen was reelected as President of the organization.