The Truth Behind Women-Led Social Enterprises in MENA

Anam
Jul 21
4 min read

Smiling woman wearing a grey hijab and holding a clipboard, standing in a fashion boutique surrounded by clothing racks with colorful garments. She has a measuring tape draped around her neck, suggesting she is a fashion designer or entrepreneur.

5 Hard Truths About Women-Led Social Enterprises in MENA

Over the years, through our journey of working closely with women social entrepreneurs, we have learned about five things that we feel are crucial to any social impact organization globally and must be shared with everyone, especially those who are looking to support these ventures and help their impact.

It is no secret that social impact organizations face a unique set of challenges in the MENA and Asia regions, but those challenges are multiplied if the organization is led by women. These organizations face an additional layer of complexity, making their survival even more challenging.

Capital Flexibility

Though lack of capital is one of the most common struggles these organizations face, that makes it challenging or at times practically impossible for these social impact organizations to survive.

What most people are not aware of is that it's also the capital inflexibility that leads many women-led social enterprises to shut down. A lot of times the funding options do not match these entrepreneurs’ reality. It can be a mix of inflexible payment plans, collateral requirements, previous credit history, or high interest rates.

In the past decade, there have been several global and regional initiatives, such as Kiva.org and Grameen America, that have been founded to support women-led social enterprises, but there is a wide gap that needs to be filled to enable these social enterprises to sustain and grow.

Hermenow is currently officially partnering with another regional initiative, Rama Impact. This initiative focuses on providing interest- and collateral-free loans to its members. These loans are designed with flexible payment plans, customized to the needs of the participants.

Entrepreneurship is a Tool for Survival

Generally, entrepreneurship comes with entitlement and pride. However, in this context, social entrepreneurship serves as a means of survival for these women. Many women start these ventures out of necessity, to support their families and communities or to tackle an urgent socially impacting issue that cannot be ignored.

Most of the time, these women lack the luxury of cherishing the "build a startup" journey. They must make do with what they already have and begin where they are, with minimal resources. It’s a call of urgency rather than luxury. As social entrepreneurs, these women struggle for years after to sustain the organization due to lack of funds, mentorship, and regulatory restrictions.

To acknowledge their struggles, we must reframe success in a way that honors social impact, care work, and sustainability.

There are many award programs, such as the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition, the Wamda X Fellowship & Wamda Awards, and the Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant, hosted by organizations to acknowledge and highlight the efforts of these entrepreneurs.

There are many little ways that we can support these women on an individual level, such as buying their products, following them on social media and engaging in their content, spreading their message, and offering them pro bono mentorship and volunteer work.

Sisterhood is the Strongest Support System

Social women entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa region do not have a lot of opportunities for learning and mentorship. Through accelerator and cohort programs like Hermenow, these women have an opportunity to enhance their knowledge in a safe environment. Additionally, these programs provide participants with the chance to connect with other like-minded women both within their region and beyond, thereby forming a strong support system and lifelong support circles.

Programs like Hermenow are working to change that narrative. By creating accelerator and cohort-based learning experiences, these programs provide women entrepreneurs with a safe, nurturing environment where they can expand their knowledge, develop critical business skills, and refine their leadership capabilities. Beyond the technical learning, what truly sets such programs apart is the emphasis on building community. These platforms bring together like-minded women, not only from across the Middle East and Africa but also from global networks, creating powerful support systems and lifelong circles of encouragement, collaboration, and shared growth.

It is crucial that we design these learning spaces with safety, inclusivity, and growth in mind, rather than reinforcing models of hyper-competition. Women social entrepreneurs often face exclusion and resource scarcity, so we must focus on creating equal access to mentorship, learning, and peer networks. The aim is to give each participant the tools, confidence, and connections to succeed, not just to crown a winner.

Holistic Ventures that Heal Systems

Women-led social ventures are often holistic, incorporating social, economic, and environmental missions. Unlike traditional businesses that solely focus on profit maximization, women-led social businesses often aim to focus on healing the broken system and closing the gap in societal issues and participants. Inclusion and sustainability form the foundation of these missions.

These ventures don’t only focus on solving social issues; instead, they focus on solving problems while creating further opportunities to improve the overall health of the community. For example, a venture with reduced waste will not only focus on solving the problems related to access to waste but also create employment opportunities in the community to improve the financial condition of its residents.

Women-led social enterprises have a lot more to offer than traditional businesses in terms of social impact; however, it comes at the cost of a unique set of challenges. Knowing more about these ventures can help us to support them in a more conscious way, whether it’s at an individual level or an organizational level.

To learn more about how Hermenow Accelerator is supporting women-led social enterprises in MENA, please visit our website, www.hermenow.com.

If you are a HerMeNow participant or alumni, book your free coaching session now through the HerMeNow website https://www.hermenow.com/wellness.