In 2019, CTEK and its Omani partners spearheaded the Congress of MENA Women in Muscat, Oman, inviting two delegates each from 12 MENA countries, along with several partners and sponsoring organizations to participate in design sessions for CTEK’s MENA Initiative. Together over three days they crafted a program to empower women in their countries by teaching practical STEM skills combined with entrepreneurship to open up their access to the digital economy.
Alongside the MENA Congress, CTEK sponsored a pilot to test its curriculum to see if twenty women could, in one week, learn to build websites, create their own business, and market themselves as freelance entrepreneurs to get clients and begin their journey of economic engagement. It was a resounding success with a 100% completion rate, one team having clients before the week was finished, several women embarking on their own business and some planning to teach others what they learned.