The confidence to make a change

100 women in the Al-Fath region of Egypt are gaining financial independence by confidently exerting their entrepreneurial spirit.

Nasamat El Qusy radiates enthusiasm when she speaks about the women who are participating in our empowerment program in the rural municipality of Arab El-Kalabat, around 400 kilometers south of Cairo. Here and in other places around the country we are working with our Egyptian raw materials partner Ottoman to improve quality of life for the people who cultivate our plant ingredients.

El Qusy works with our partner organization ACDA and is thrilled by her experience of how the program has changed the lives of the women involved. In rural areas like Arab El-Kalabat, it is difficult for women to earn money. But the training sessions and opportunities for mutual exchange that our program provides gave them the decisive impetus to believe in themselves and assert their abilities. Fifteen women took part in the first phase of the program in 2020, launching their own projects to help them achieve greater financial independence.

Situation for women and girls in Egypt

This is a major step. In Arab El-Kalabat, girls are less likely than boys to receive an education. Here, women are responsible for housework, child care, and looking after the health of everyone in their household. Because few women have jobs and their social status is lower, with their lives revolving around the home, most women have little contact with the outside world. As a result, women and girls are more at risk of poverty and hunger.

Women make a valuable contribution to family income

Saffa Has’san Gom’aa beams when she talks about her participation in the project: “It was a good feeling to be in a group of women, learning something together. The workshops gave us lots of ideas and were so much fun. We exchanged our stories and laughed together. Our trainer Mohamed Youssef convinced me that women are perfectly capable of running their own business and improving their family income. That gave me the confidence to discuss my long-held desire with my husband, and I now have his support in realizing my dream.”

Empowering women has positive long-term effects

We have been working in the project region since 2019, with the help of non-governmental organization ACDA, which has valuable insider knowledge of the country and its people. The opportunities we offer in this village arose out of the ideas of the women and men who live here. This allows our projects to target areas where change is most urgently needed – and thus have the best-possible impact.

The first phase of the project was primarily dedicated to the topic of health, but the next phase will focus on improving the situation of women, in cooperation with our customer Traditional Medicinals. Experience has shown that this approach has the most lasting impact on living conditions – not only for women.

Who else benefits from women’s empowerment?

Like almost everywhere in the world, women in Egypt are the heart of the family. They bear most of the burdens and responsibilities, yet rarely get to make decisions. When pioneering women like Saffa Has’san Gom’aa are able to contribute to the family income, they gain self-confidence and start playing an active role in household decision-making. The additional income is usually invested in business growth, the children’s education, or healthcare for the whole family.

With their social advancement, women provide an inspiring example to their children, motivating them to stay in school and develop their talents and skills, and thus have better chances of a good income later in life. And the program doesn’t only benefit individual families: the sense of togetherness it generates has a favorable impact on village life, too. Women are therefore not only important agents for positive change in their own lives, but in their entire community.