Women in the MENA
Collaboration in Entrepreneurship
CTEK’s Women in the MENA initiative aims to involve more women in entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through an educational platform that couples technical skills, such as coding, with business skills that will allow them to form online, outsourcing businesses. Women in the MENA sometimes face barriers to entrepreneurship due to religious and cultural norms, and this program will allow them to honor their chosen traditions while still competing in the world wide entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Join the Initiative
If you are a women who lives in the MENA region and are interested in learning about entrepreneurship and software development in order to find a job or start your own business, please consider joining our next educational program. Applying for the program is completely free and all you have to do is fill out this form!
Perhaps you or a company you work with is also working to teach women in the MENA about entrepreneurship or software skills. If so, you should consider becoming one of several Champions in CTEK’s Alliance, where CTEK connects like-minded companies to provide mentorship, support, and connections to achieve our mission.
The CTEK Alliance
CTEK has a network of champions and allies dedicated to opening up the entrepreneurial ecosystem to women in the Middle East and North Africa. By collaborating with regional and global organizations like nonprofits and corporations, CTEK is helping craft programs that give women opportunities to start their own business by learning software development through online learning and virtual bonding with a community of women entrepreneurs.
Champions become part of the CTEK Alliance by submitting and committing to execute a Program Plan. Upon approval of the plan, CTEK will support the new champion with the following benefits:
1. A Financial Commitment:
– CTEK contributes $10,000 in seed funds to assist the champion’s Program Plan.
– CTEK also commits to helping raise the rest of the funding that is needed per the plan, which includes working with the champion on a funding plan and strategy, funding letters, grant-writing help, participation in meetings, and asking co-funders and sponsors.
2. A Professional Network:
– Champions are connected with other CTEK Alliance champions to create a community and share best practices.
– Champions are connected to CTEK Allies that include accelerators, business groups, banks, development agencies, government programs, etc.
3. Access to Resources:
– Champions get access to CTEK’s resources on pilot planning, marketing, pay-it-forward pledges, curriculum, tracking, and student software that will make fulfilling the Program Plan faster and easier.
– Champions get use of CTEK’s name and brand as an international partner and sponsor, including their own CTEK page linked to their program.
– CTEK provides ongoing support, advice and consultation throughout the Champion’s journey to make the program self-sustaining.
The First MENA Women Congress
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.