THE Iran Entrepreneurs Association (IEA) recently organised the first-ever ‘start up weekend’ for women entrepreneurs in Tehran. As a resource person at the event, it was heartening to note the level of entrepreneurial activity in a country burdened with all forms of economic sanctions, and in particular the enthusiasm of women in taking their rightful role within the burgeoning entrepreneurial community in Iran.

A total of 100 participants registered, with 62 women and 38 men. According to statistics compiled by the IEA, women comprise only 12pc of the working population in Iran. Three-fourths of the educated women are either jobless or in jobs for which they have not qualified.

Fifty per cent of the working women are in technical jobs (factories primarily), 10pc are in sales, 11pc in clerical work and only 4pc in management. While 80pc of the teachers in Iran are women, only 20pc of the university professors are women. Percentage of women parliamentarians stands at 3pc. While the official unemployment rate is 15.6pc, the unofficial rate is closer to 38pc.

There’s scope for cooperation among women entrepreneurs.

It is estimated that 42pc of the 18-24 years age group are currently unemployed. Given the similarities in the demographic trends between Iran and Pakistan, as well the prevalent job opportunities, entrepreneurship in both countries is becoming less a matter of choice, and more a necessity.

At the conclusion of the introductory sessions during the first evening of the weekend, the participants were asked to form themselves into groups based on the appeal of their ideas and the common interest amongst the members. The teams were encouraged to select members based on complementarity of background, expertise and gender diversity. A total of 11 groups were formed.

The following day, the participants worked in their respective groups to draw up their business plans and presentations with the help of a select number of mentors who were available for guidance and support.

On the final day of the weekend, the groups finalised their plans for presentation in front of eight women judges, all senior members of the Association of Iranian Women Entrepreneurs. Each group was given five minutes to pitch their business plans and another five minutes to answer questions from the panel of judges. The time allocation was strictly adhered to, thus enforcing the discipline of short, focused presentations. The level of energy and enthusiasm in the auditorium was palpably high.

Overall, it was a well-conducted event and could be adapted for Pakistan with wide-reaching beneficial effects.

The focus on women for this type of event was a novelty in Iran and it had attracted women from different backgrounds and spheres of economic activity.

Interestingly, when it was time to make the presentations, it was mostly the male members of the group who were presenting. Even though the women were at the forefront of ideas generation and work preparations, they lacked the confidence to present in front of the audience. Part of the mentoring exercise should be to equip them for this role.

Even though the 11 groups presented a good combination of ideas, the themes that dominated on the final day centred on health and education. These ranged from online tools to diagnose diseases to marketing of early childhood learning applications. This reinforces the general perception that women entrepreneurs often focus on the ‘social good’ or social enterprises apart from just profit-making ventures.

Given the similarities in cultural norms between the two countries, there is great scope for collaboration between Iran and Pakistan. For a start, it would be worthwhile to explore the possibility of a MoU signed between either the relevant ministries or at least at the level of women’s associations, focusing on the ad­­vance­ment of women en­­t­re­­preneurs.

This would pave the way for an exchange of delegations of women entrepreneurs for trade exhibitions and business-to-business meetings and conferences and workshops for skills development as well as confidence building (greater international exposure is in itself a good confidence-building measure and the impartation of soft skills will help bring their level of confidence at par with their level of competence and innate abilities).

It would also lead to mentoring programmes across borders — the lack of role models is often cited as reason for not enough women venturing into non-traditional sectors, and access to a larger pool of talented women would help to overcome this constraint.

There would be opportunities for university students to spend time in exchange programmes or internship programmes across borders and most importantly for development of e-commerce particularly suited for women entrepreneurs with limited access to the marketplace.

However for this to happen, Iran will need to be integrated back into the maze of the international banking channels.

The writer is an entrepreneur.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2014