Women run businesses on the rise in Bahrain

TDT | Manama 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com 

Thirty-nine per cent of the companies supported by export Bahrain are either owned or managed by Bahrain women, revealed Fatima Rostam, Chief of Business Development and Export Solutions.

She also revealed that 50% of those companies were exporting their products or services to regional or international markets for the first time. Rostam was speaking during a Ramadan Council organised by the Supreme Council for Women. 

She told the meeting that Bahraini women had the largest share of products selling in 20 new international markets. “Since its inception in 2018, Export Bahrain has facilitated exports of products worth more than $74 million to international markets,” she added. 

Export Bahrain works alongside local and international partners to offer Bahraini companies international opportunities, exposure, knowledge and solutions to become a global player. 

On the impact of the COVId-19 outbreak, she said Bahrain women-run companies exported their products and services to around 51 countries after reopening borders. “Canada, Mexico, Seychelles, Tanzania, Brazil and New Zealand are some of the markets reached in addition to the main export markets of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Kuwait and Jordan,” she said during the virtual meeting.

The Director of the Media Center at the Supreme Council for Women, Muhammad Al-Hammadi, explained that these companies work in food, clothing, beauty, Interior design, sports training, and others. 

Bahraini businesswomen, Al-Hammadi said, gained entry into new markets. “An entrepreneur found a market for her made-in-Bahrain bags in the markets of New Zealand.” On this note, Rostom emphasised the importance of the memorandum of understanding signed by the Supreme Council for Women and Export Bahrain.

She thanked the council for helping Bahraini businesswomen, referring to the number of first-time exporters. Rustum explained that the export credit insurance offered by the authority protects Bahraini exporters from the risks of non-payment by international importers in addition to providing counselling and guidance services.

Export Bahrain, she said, also provides e-commerce services, citing the deals signed with two e-commerce platforms inside Bahrain and the Noon in the United Arab Emirates. “We provide Bahraini exporters several privileges to sell their products and services on those platforms,” said Rustum.

Rustum further revealed that the percentage of women working in the export sector here reached over 80%. “Women also occupies all of the leadership positions of the authority,” she added. Fatima Rostam also called on Bahraini companies led by men and women to communicate with Export Bahrain to get acquainted with its services.