Few business women have access to updated information about available financing schemes and how to apply for them. Many women in the region are seeking economic independence but few of them have the courage or the proper knowledge to create their own business enterprises. Very few women entrepreneurs are aware that they could help themselves and contribute to the policymaking process by establishing their own effective associations. The lack of gender awareness in these societies is also one of the residual effects of the past. As a group who lacks self-confidence, most women still need to develop the determination to change.
Individuals discourage each other, and they have very low self-esteem.
Despite these obstacles, women entrepreneurs tend to be the real engine for both economic and social change. Highly educated and professionally active, they have also initiated changes to improve their own economic destiny. Having to adapt and become more flexible, women are quickly learning that associations of individuals sharing common interests and needs bring visibility, influence, and power. Some of the women who participated in the WED programs noted that they were not only developing business skills, but they also were becoming more aware about the role of gender in everyday life. Every evening I shared with my husband what happened in the WED program.