In early 2009, I was invited by the U.S. State Department to train business owners in Qatar in entrepreneurial growth, in line with Qatar’s government economic initiatives to support SMEs (small and medium enterprises). See http://www.menabwn.org.
There were three high points of the two-day conference:
- We were joined on stage by the Minister of Trade, who announced a new $10B Qatari Riyal ($ U.S. 250M) fund to support small businesses. Supporting this announcement was the U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, the Deputy Minister of Trade (who explained the details), and a gathering of the leading businessmen and bankers of the country.
- The training of the entrepreneurs (both men and women) included 3 sessions, each nearly 3 hours long. My session, “10 Steps to Growing Your Business,” received some of the warmest responses by email:
o “I wanted to express my deep appreciation for the value you delivered on that day. It was a marvellous lecture! The way you conveyed profound meaning in the simplest of words was indeed impressive! Having been in the field for 22 years, I quickly tire of clichés and vague advices given by many speakers. Your talk was obviously distilled from rich experience and what’s more, you have given advice to us in very actionable terms.”
o “You were really inspiring….I felt I can ask anything and get an impressi[ve] answer instead of wasting my time researching. I have a live online encyclopedia of 35 years…”
- The day before the conference, we toured the leading banks, businesses, educational centers and foundations to understand the truly visionary mission of the Emir and her Highness to create a self-sustaining, creative country by 2030.
For more detailed information on Qatar, the Qatar Business Women’s Forum, and the conference go to http://joeytamer.com/international/qatar.php.
This project was funded, in part, through the Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) under Cooperative Agreement number S-NEAPI-07-CA-250. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State. MEPI is a Presidential initiative founded to support economic, political, and educational reform efforts in the Middle East and expand opportunity for all people of the region, especially women and youth. More information about MEPI can be found at: www.mepi.state.gov.
