Their experiences underline a broader message: inclusive financial progress will depend on opening area for these too usually excluded, together with folks with disabilities, youth and home-based innovators.
Entrepreneur by necessity
For Shaymaa Saeed, a younger Egyptian crochet designer and handicrafts artist with a incapacity, entrepreneurship was not a life-style alternative however a necessity. Well being challenges prevented her from securing formal work, pushing her to rethink how she might earn a residing.
“I began my venture from house in 2018 resulting from well being challenges, after I used to be unable to safe a job,” she advised UN Information.
As an alternative of giving up, I turned my pastime right into a supply of revenue
What started as a private coping technique regularly grew to become a viable enterprise. Ms. Saeed went on to participate in a few of Egypt’s largest handicrafts exhibitions, constructing confidence and visibility alongside the way in which.
Not too long ago, she introduced her work outdoors her house nation for the primary time, marking a big milestone in her journey.
Stepping on stage
“My participation marks my first step onto the worldwide stage,” she stated, pointing to the position of entrepreneurship coaching and institutional backing. “The assist I acquired helped me develop personally and professionally, with larger confidence.”
Awards Ceremony for Worldwide Girl Entrepreneurial Problem Bahrain 2026
All the problems raised by Ms. Saeed’s experiences are up for dialogue throughout this week’s Sixth World Entrepreneurs Funding Discussion board (WEIF), within the Bahraini capital, Manama, the place a parallel exhibition on home-based entrepreneurship is showcasing how focused assist can flip private challenges into financial alternative.
Organised by the UN Industrial Growth Group’s (UNIDO) Worldwide Expertise and Innovation Promotion Workplace in Bahrain, the gathering is bringing collectively entrepreneurs, policymakers and buyers from dozens of nations.
Huge goals
Ms. Saeed’s enterprise stays fully home-based and on-line, however her ambitions prolong properly past that. “I don’t but have a bodily retailer, however I dream of getting my very own area to showcase and promote my work, and of reaching markets the world over as a profitable small enterprise.”
Ms. Saeed is candid in regards to the realities of constructing a enterprise from scratch. “Success doesn’t come in a single day,” she stated. “It’s a steady journey of effort, studying and growth.”
I dream of getting my very own area to showcase and promote my work, and of reaching markets the world over
Comparable themes are rising from different girls utilizing artwork and entrepreneurship as automobiles for company and expression.
Bahraini visible artist and artwork instructor Mariam Sayed Anwar, who additionally lives with a incapacity, described creativity as each self-discipline and emotional launch.
“My work strikes between nonetheless life, portraits, charcoal, pencil and acrylic,” she defined, stressing the significance of experimentation. “I by no means restrict myself to only one medium.”
UNIDO Attendees Applaud at WEIF2026 in Bahrain
For her, artwork communicates what language generally can not. “Via paint and brushes, I can specific what’s in my coronary heart and soul greater than writing ever might. Artwork is my language; when phrases fall silent, my work speaks for me.”
Worldwide publicity
Past particular person tales, entrepreneurs from Africa gathering in Bahrain are highlighting the structural circumstances that form success or failure.
Zimbabwean entrepreneur Dr. Roselyn Musaruru-Wacharewa stated publicity to worldwide networks had reshaped her understanding of what’s potential – not only for particular person girls, however for total areas.
“In lots of African international locations, governments tax entrepreneurs so closely that it looks like they need you out of enterprise,” she stated, contrasting this with environments the place coverage actively encourages enterprise.
Her enchantment was blunt: African girls entrepreneurs are prepared, however governments should “change the narrative and provides them actual entry and recognition”.
Guterres underlines non-public sector position
The significance of making such enabling circumstances was echoed by UN leaders and nationwide officers, although the emphasis remained on outcomes quite than rhetoric.
In his message delivered in Bahrain on Tuesday, UN Secretary-Normal António Guterres underlined the non-public sector’s position as an engine of jobs, innovation and funding, notably via micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for roughly two-thirds of world employment.
He burdened that progress should go hand in hand with respect for human rights and labour requirements, and with increasing alternatives for these left behind.
UNIDO officers highlighted youth and ladies as central drivers of innovation, whereas Bahraini authorities pointed to nationwide initiatives supporting younger and ladies entrepreneurs, alongside methods embracing synthetic intelligence and new applied sciences.
Lived expertise
But the strongest arguments for inclusive progress got here not from coverage statements, however from lived expertise.
From home-based companies run fully on-line, to artwork that speaks the place phrases fail, entrepreneurs like Shaymaa Saeed illustrate what turns into potential when expertise meets alternative – and what’s misplaced when obstacles stay.
