WASHINGTON and RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 27/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In 2006, a group of seven Palestinian businesswomen founded a national non-profit association with the core belief that women's economic participation plays an essential role in the development of the Palestinian economy - Business Women Forum - Palestine (BWF-Palestine). On July 6-7, 2008 the BWF-Palestine will reinforce this belief and take significant steps towards enhancing the skills of Palestinian business people when they host a delegation of three top women executives from the United States for a major event in Ramallah, 'Global and Local Trends in Business and Advocacy.' The event is part of the newly launched Corporate Ambassadors Program, a collaboration between the U.S. State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), Vital Voices Global Partnership, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Businesswomen's Network of which the BWF-Palestine is a founding member.
As the Palestinian Hub of the MENA Businesswomen's Network, the BWF-Palestine has grown from a small, all-volunteer organization into a highly respected institution and resource for businesswomen seeking to grow their businesses and contribute to the sustainable development of the Palestinian economy. They currently run four major programs in collaboration with various international organizations and the U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem. Manal Zraiq, Chairwoman of the BWF-Palestine acknowledges their success but sees a long road ahead: 'Progress is not coming fast enough. We do not want just to make relative progress from a difficult situation, we would like to reach equality and offer women equal opportunities both in business as well as in politics.'
To hasten this progress the BWF-Palestine will host the upcoming Corporate Ambassadors event, which features top U.S. executives with backgrounds in the automotive industry, consulting, advocacy and information technology (IT). Deborah Coleman (President and CEO, International Business Solutions, Inc.), Stephenie Foster (Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, American Legacy Foundation) and Cynthia Traeger (Chairman, CEO and President, VSI Visual Synthesis Incorporated) will share their firsthand experience on topics such as sustainable growth, financial management and advocacy. As a result of the event, the BWF-Palestine hopes to provide its members and the community at large tools and strategies to enhance their businesses and to expand their network to the US.