Developing Small project with corporation with manpower and governme= nt restructuring program

<= b>Global = Summit of Women 2007 Remarks=

<= span class=3DSpellE>Anwar Al-Sabah

<= b> “Growing” the Next Gene= ration of Women Entrepreneur"=

I want to start by pointing some issues that are particular about Kuwait.

Women in Kuwait represent 51% of the population

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I-e 479.493<= span dir=3DLTR> of those 182.757 from the age 20 -49yrs.<= /span>

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Female

Age

5= 3326

4= 4703

3= 7160

32646

28359

23149

16740

12472

8425=

1= 5-19

2= 0-24

2= 5-29

3= 0-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-60=

The government of <= st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Kuwait is saturated and has no job offerings for new graduates.

Kuwait government formed an office for Manpower and Government Restructuring program for training young graduate girls and boys and place them at the non-governmental businesses with full insurance and benefits as the governmental employees.

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Many women are work= ing at home without a commercial license, this is considered illegal accor= ding to the commercial laws of Kuwait and, hence, they cannot sell their product in the local market.

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There is an urgent = need to find and create more work opportunities for young graduates especia= lly girls.

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In early 2000, grou= p of Kuwaiti Business women agree to look at young girls and women and help them overcome the difficulties they face when establishing any commerc= ial enterprise.

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We wanted to look at women with existing home businesses; we find it an opportunity to inve= st in them. The Kuwaiti Business Women joined hands with Manpower and Government restructuring program in early 2006. We started by visiting local = and seasonal exhibitions in the country.&= nbsp;

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Many women were located; around 171 women with her private business, they have differe= nt and diverse businesses. They were gifted and creative with businesses ranging from: perfumes making, dress designing, chocolates and party decoration. Mostly were between the age of = 25-50 yrs old, they are young graduates and or retired women who want to sta= rt their businesses all over again. They started their home businesses as hobbies, got support and admiration from f= riends and family, then rent a space at a private non-governmental seasonal exhibitions to display and sell their productions. <= /li>

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Though those women are<= /span> gifted, they lack the know-how of operation and marketing. They all<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> have the desire and the willingness to learn and = be able to sell their products at the local market and abroad. And after = all to support themselves and family away from the tedious way of the government.

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Those women are our targets. So a new Genera= tion of Women Entrepreneur is born.

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T= he vision:<= o:p>

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To help women to g= row their home businesses. Educate them with the now how of developing ho= me business and familiarize them with the rules and regulation necessary= for such ventures and giving them the tools and techniques of marketing t= heir products, in order to enlarge the base of their ope= ration maintain the legal licenses and later be able to convert their home business to small and competitive business bo= th locally and internationally.

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T= he goal:<= o:p>

To create more job opportunities for young gradates and support new women entrepreneurs = in order to have an important participation the total economy

T= he policy:

The policy of the with Manpower and Government restructuring p= rogram is to offer new graduates, jobs at home businesses.=

And our policy is = to have more opportunities for new entrepreneurs of women through develo= ping their small businesses to medium and large size ones.

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The officeof Manpower and Government restructuring program and the Kuwaiti Business women started right aw= ay, because there are many obstacles on the way for those women such as:<= o:p>

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The exhibitions that the women are using are not permanent, but seasonal.

The rent prices at the exhibitions vary from one exhibition to the other and they are not suitable for the products.

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Women are not allowed to sell their products in the local market because they do not have commercial licences.

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High prices of material and the difficulty in obtaining them from the local market=

W= hat do we offer?

Consultation in promoting and developing commercial projects.
Training programs = in management finance, marketing and planning.
Creating new oppor= tunities for new graduates to built and maintains their own businesses away fr= om government umbrella.
Provide permanent market place that could be rented by women at competitive prices.
Display and possib= ly sell the products through our site on the net.
List the names of = all home owner women in Kuwaiti business women commercial guide.

So farWe designed and wr= ote all the necessary forms for collecting data.
Getting the statis= tic for all activities involved.
76 new women entrepreneur were chosen from 112 projects.
Those entrepreneurs will exhibit their products at the first exhibition for women entrepreneurs June 25, of this year.
The premier work f= or the site has been started.
Work is in process with the commercial ministry to have new license for home business for the period of one year, after which home businesses will be converted= to small and intermediate through the legal channels with the proper licensees.=
Creating a permane= nt incubator for home businesses.
Talks are taking p= lace with the union of co-operative societies to allocate permanent shelve= s in their grocery stores for selling the by products of women entrepreneur especially edible produce.
Start selling thro= ugh our electronic sites.
Work is in process also to establish low risk funds for small projects with corporate financing facilities.