HRH Princess Sabeeka patronises Businesswomen Forum opening

Manama, Mar. 26 (BNA): Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Wife of the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) patronised here today the opening ceremony of the "B to B International Businesswomen’s Forum and Exhibition", orgnaised by the Bahrain Businesswomen's Society (BBS) from March 28 to 30. HRH Princess Sabeeka highlighted the importance of holding scientific forums and specialised exhibitions in providing platforms for sharing expertise to boost business activities. She stressed that the International Businesswomen’s Forum and Exhibition is an opportunity to shed light on Bahrain's experience in empowering women. It also provides a platform to highlight the success stories of businesswomen and take advantage of international experiences in addressing challenges and putting forward adequate solution to them, she also said. HRH Princess Sabeeka affirmed that under the umbrella of the Supreme Council for Women, the Kingdom is proud that it has established an integrated women empowerment model that supports debut entrepreneurs at home and then provides them with training, financing and centres to provide services. She explained that an incubator centre to develop women entrepreneurs and two financial portfolios, with a budget of US$150 million for both, for easy financing for micro enterprises and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) were among the projects aiming to empower Bahraini women. She asserted that the SCW is interested in measuring the impact of women's entry into the labour market, explaining that the economic empowerment of women ensures family stability and encourages women to join civil society institutions, municipal councils and the National Assembly. HRH Princess Sabeeka thanked Shaikha Shathba bint Salman for her constant support to the work and activities of the Bahrain Businesswomen's Society and keenness to activate its role. She also congratulated BBS on its 15th anniversary, wishing it further success in promoting the efforts of the Bahraini businesswomen. She valued highly BBS' holding of the key international event, praising the themes of the forum. More than 200 businesswomen from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Arab, Eastern Asia and African countries, as well as government officials, academics and business leaders in various sectors of industry, economy and the major financial institutes, universities and business training centres are taking part in the event.. The forum features a host of specialised lectures and panel discussions on "Challenges Faced by Businesswomen and Solutions to Overcome Them Successful stories from different parts of the globe", "Role of Youth and Businesswomen in Social Responsibility", "Role of Business Women in the Development of Industry", "Role of Banks and Financial Institutions in the Business Development of Businesswomen", "Women and Technology" and "SMEs Law". The event aims to develop economic relations, motivate investments to embrace women's promising economic role, highlight the key role of businesswomen in strengthening business and investment ties with world economic partners and share visions on ways to enhance SMEs. It will provide a platform for businesswomen to know the experiences of others, to share experiences, learn about the success stories of their counterparts in other countries, discuss the challenges they faced and to establish commercial and economic cooperation, partnerships and deals with them. An exhibition is held on the sidelines of event with the aim of developing economic relations within a business-friendly atmosphere, stimulating investments, promoting women’s economic role and highlighting the role of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) in serving businesswomen and strengthening relations with economic partners across the world. The forum and the exhibition are held in collaboration with BCCI, Tamkeen, UNIDO and in coordination with the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain.