A new scheme is being put in place to encourage women in the Benghazi area to start and develop their own businesses.
The Committee of Women Support to Participate in Decision-Making, along with Benghazi Centre for Entrepreneurship [Benghazi Entrepreneurship Centre (BEC)] is organising a competition from which 15 winners will not only learn to refine their business plans but will be given funding to turn them into reality, reports Libya Herald.
Fifteen from a short-list of 25 will be given ten days of training to help them prepare their projects for presentation to the judges.
The winners will be put in contact with Libyan businessmen, banks and government agencies which have committed to fund the projects and some of whom will be on the judging panel.
Amal Al-Shairy, from the Committee, told Libya Herald:
"We will help the winners in all the necessary procedures towards realising their projects ... Any Libyan women aged from 20 to 50 can apply.
"At the moment the competition will target women in eastern Libya, from Ajdabiyah to Tobruk. In future, however, we are planning to take the experience to the southern and western parts of the country."
According to the report, female entrepreneurs can apply on the committee’s website until 10th June, but no web address was given. The short-listed projects will be announced three days later and the training will begin on 15th June.
Benghazi Entrepreneurship Centre is also joining in this contest, offering Libyans aged 15 to 35 a chance to apply and win funding.
The initiative is sponsored by Spark, a Dutch NGO which aims to develop higher education and entrepreneurship opportunities in post-conflict regions across the globe.
(Source: Libya Herald)
