By Khaled Habib Close Up Rethinking Higher Education Notorious for producing graduates ill-equipped for the job market, universities are coming under greater scrutiny. The government will need to reach deep in the tool box to fix education. Is the free ride under threat Growing Pains Bickering aside, complaints surfacing at the German University in Cairo reveal some of the difficulties of importing foreign standards of education RethinkingHigher Education Notorious for producing graduates ill-equipped for the job market, universities are coming under greater scrutiny. The government will need to reach deep in the tool box to fix education. Is the free ride under threat? By Courtesy zein khalifa Nadia Wassef with her children. By Courtesy Nevine El Tahri By Courtesy Loula Zaklama Loula Zaklama with her extended family.

By Nadine El Sayed

Loula Zaklama’s life unraveled in one fell swoop.

It was 1960 and the then 20-year-old mother of two was studying at the American University in Cairo, when her husband was arrested and thrown into jail as part of a government clampdown on dissidents.

“There was nobody to help me. I was left stranded on my own with two kids on my hands and I was still a sophomore. My husband had disappeared and I was alone with no money,” says Zaklama.

With few options and less money, she decided to take over the fledgling advertising firm in Heliopolis that her husband had recently started, much to the dismay of her family, whose women had never worked before.

When her husband emerged from prison almost a year later, he was impressed by the direction that Zaklama had taken the business and encouraged her to continue.

The rest should be required reading in Women’s Studies 101.

Zaklama went on to become one of the most sought after advertising and public relations people in the Middle East. She has won a host of accolades, and, in 1998, was named one of the 50 most important female entrepreneurs in the world by Fortune magazine.

“It was very, very hard but it never occurred to me that I was going to be able to work or succeed,” says Zaklama.

But five decades after she got her start in business, Zaklama is still an outlier. She was supposed to be the precursor to a new wave of female entrepreneurs. But the flowering of the women’s movement, at least in the upper classes, and a host of new laws that guaranteed them equal rights, has been slow to transform the male-dominated world of business.

Only 15% of private sector workers are female. Women make up just one in five small-or medium-sized business owners; in Western countries, the ratio is close to half. Progress hasn’t been speeding up either. In the last 20 years the number of female small business owners has increased by less than 4%.

“The numbers are increasing but not with the required rates,” says Zeinab El Safar, consultant to the National Council for Women.

With International Women’s Day on March 8, bt sat down with Zaklama and four other prominent businesswomen to talk about carving out a place in business, society’s expectations and the challenges — and rewards — of being a businesswoman in Middle Eastern society.

In Egypt, women need not look far to be reminded of their traditional roles. In the business community, the gender contrasts are emphasized even further.

El Safar explains that the stigma facing women manifests itself in unexpected ways. She cites difficulties getting loans for business start-ups as a prime example. Pressure on ambitious women is different than on their male counterparts, she says, and there are psychological barriers that need to be overcome along with more tangible obstacles. The gravity associated with requesting large sum loans often leads women to ask for less than their male colleagues might, she says.

Neveen El Tahri, founder, chairperson and managing director of Delta Holding for Financial Investments, attributes this in part to the fact that money is not always the primary concern for women when making career decisions.

She explains how she once left her job with CIB for one offering triple the salary but returned because the environment was much more appealing. Many of her female colleagues at CIB stayed on to become top management while their male counterparts moved on to higher-paying jobs elsewhere.

Sisters Hind and Nadia Wassef, and Nihal Schawky are the founding partners of successful bookstore chain Diwan.

Schawky explains that the three women are idealists by nature — to the point that she often had to remind the Wassef sisters that they needed to make money and that their dreams could not be achieved if they didn’t manage to turn a profit.

But these entrepreneurial women do not seem phased by the things that set them apart from the men; in fact, they see them as an advantage. El Tahri believes that such differences are what make women more dedicated and eager to prove themselves.

“I think it is part of our DNA and how we were brought up,” she says, explaining that from childhood girls are accustomed to gender disparities and that instills in them a drive to prove their capacity for success.

The image of a working mother torn by the balance of work and family responsibilities is a beleaguered stereotype, but women agree that there is an element of truth behind it. With the exception of Schawky, all of the female pioneers have had to deal with raising young children at some point in their career. Juggling a growing business and a healthy family life requires more than multitasking skills. Success in either means not making major compromises. For some it is all a matter of timing, for others it’s a case of prioritization.

“I tell my daughter it is time management; it is extremely important how you manage your time,” says El Tahri. She says she kept a motto clear in her mind: family comes first. When at her desk, she worked — no mingling, no coffee breaks, just work. But when the clock hit four she was out the door to go and pick up her kids. Initially, this was held against her, but any work she had outstanding would come home with her to be finished while her kids were playing or doing homework. Ultimately her performance was not compromised by the fact that she had to leave early.

Hind Wassef agrees that it isn’t about clocking in or out; it is about what you get done in that time.

Zaklama has a different opinion. She believes a mother shouldn’t go to work before her children reach school age.

“I hated leaving the children. I hated it. It was breaking my heart everyday of my life. It is terrible to have to work when your children are so young.” By the time she got back at night her children had already been fed, bathed and tucked into bed by her mother. “It is a very high price to pay,” she says.

Opinions were also mixed as to whether it is possible to have a baby and get a new business off the ground at the same time.

El Tahri has been a working mother for her entire career, but it was not until her daughter was 12 and her son seven that she was able to spend full days in the office, and started her own company. However, she insists that had the situation been different she would have found a way to make it work. “I’d put a crib in the office or buy the place downstairs and turn it into a daycare,” she says. The Wassef sisters agree.

Schawky, on the other hand, says she enjoyed being a full-time mother and was in no position to start a business at that time. Zaklama sides with Schawky.

She believes that nobody can find a perfect balance between work and kids; one of the two will ultimately have to suffer. She says this is particularly true of entrepreneurs who are often saddled with more responsibilities.

“Entrepreneurship is a full time job and it takes a lot of you; you can’t go home and shut down. You go home and your mind keeps working.” Always being at the mercy of a client takes away the luxury of working 9 to 5 and having evenings, weekends and holidays to dedicate to family, she says.

El Tahri disagrees. She believes having her own business actually gave her more flexibility. She says she would postpone a meeting if her daughter was having troubles and if the client doesn’t like it: “Well, he misses out.” She adds that it is in the client’s best interest because people perform better when their minds are at ease.

The ladies can agree on one thing when it comes to family time though: It’s what you do with it that counts.

Schawky says being busy means you have to make time for your kids, and that makes it special. She explains that whatever time she gets at home is spent gathered with her family in the living room.

Nadia Wassef say she gets home by five and from then until 10:30 when she and the girls go to bed, it is all about time together.

“We run errands, we talk, we go grocery shopping, we read, draw and do arts and crafts; it isn’t the quantity — it is the quality,” she says.

Rivalry in the workplace they expect, but rivalry with a successful businesswoman at home might seem a bit much for some men. Husbands often have the final say when it comes to their wives working, and the women agree that having a supportive and understanding partner is a critical component of a married woman’s career potential.

El Tahri believes the key to any successful relationship is negotiation and understanding. She says it is about making her husband know he is the most important person in her life and is respected and understood.

“At home he is Si El Sayed,” she says, adding she is lucky to have such a supportive husband.

She admits that sometimes it helps to be a little tactful though. For instance, rather than telling her husband she needs to travel for work, she would explain the situation and ask his opinion. When he examines the situation and proposes she travel to best accomplish her goals, he feels like he is involved, she explains.

Zaklama believes the secret to her career and marriage succeeding hand in hand was that her husband was successful in his own right; his experience helped her and he was able to push her closer to her goals.

Schawky, who is divorced, believes that it is in fact better for a relationship if the wife works. “If you only have your home-life, you concentrate on it so much that problems get bigger.” She says she cannot blame her work for her divorce; work, for her, served as an escape from the problems at home.

“Good relationships would stand a lot,” says Nadia Wassef. Her sister agrees and believes it is about keeping priorities straight: “When you take something as a given in life, then you don’t actually get a lot of arguments.”

Zaklama thinks being a businesswoman makes her a better wife, El Tahri believes it makes her a better mother who can broaden her children’s horizons, and Nadia Wassef believes it sets a good example for her children and gives them something to be proud of.

Despite their struggles, all of them agree their path to success brought them a rewarding sense of fulfillment and achievement. Their collective advice to aspiring entrepreneurial women: Go for it. It might not be easy, but you won’t regret it.

Three of the five founding partners of Diwan bookstores

Diwan, born out of the founders’ vision to fill a market gap for a modern bookshop with well-trained personnel and space to relax, is recognized as having revolutionized the way books are sold in Egypt.

Founded in March 2002 by the Wassef sisters, Schawky, and two silent partners, Diwan’s first store in Zamalek struggled for the first six months with a minimal marketing budget. It relied on word-of-mouth and branded shopping bags for advertising. But it worked and the store flourished. By 2006, the partners had set up a handful of outlets and attracted the attention of private equity firm Citadel Capital, who bought a 40% stake in the company. The extra investment allowed the chain to open a host of new stores and expand their services. Diwan now has 10 branches spread between Cairo and Alexandria.

President and managing director of RadaResearch and Public Relations

RadaResearch, the company Zaklama forged out of her husband’s part-time advertising business, is now one of the leading PR firms in the Middle East, with clients including the Ministry of Investment, France Telecom, IBM, Chrysler, LinkDotNet, Chipsy and Procter & Gamble. In collaboration with P&G, RadaResearch has been responsible for some of the most successful campaigns in Egypt, including the promotion of shampoos, detergents and sanitary products.

Zaklama also worked as a consultant to Amr Moussa, former Foreign Minister and current Secretary-General of the Arab League, and with former Minister of Tourism Fouad Sultan. Her work with Sultan involved masterminding a PR response to the terrorist attacks in the 1990s, including the massacre at Hatshepsut temple in 1997.

In 1998, Zaklama was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 leading female entrepreneurs in the world.

Chairperson and managing director of Delta Holding for Financial Investments

El Tahri joined Chase National Bank as a teller in 1980, rising to the position of general manager of corporate banking before leaving in 1992 to be a stay-at-home mother. After realizing this was not for her, she dabbled in consultancy for a year before establishing Delta Securities in 1994.

By 1997, Delta had attracted investments from American Express Bank and the Egyptian American Bank. El Tahri hit the jackpot when she convinced ABN-AMRO to buy out the same shares a couple of years later.

Despite having to downsize in 2001, El Tahri regained full control of the company and diversified the Delta brand into asset management, capital investments and financial investments.

In 2008, El Tahri was named in a Financial Times special report as one of the leading businesswoman in the Arab world and is also currently the Royal Bank of Scotland’s representative in Egypt. bt