Seminars

The meeting was held with more than 15 women entrepreneurs from the Province of Ghazvin. After the initial introduction of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs by Mrs. Mohtashamipour, Mrs. Shaysteh Nikmanesh and Mrs. Azadeh Danande shared their experiences in entrepreneurship in fields of services, industry, and export. The activities of Mrs. Nikmanesh were especially attractive to the participants and there were even some discussions for future collaborations. At the end, the entrepreneurs of Province of Ghazvin expressed some of their concerns and problems.
– One of the most important problems facing women entrepreneurs in Province of Ghazvin is marketing. They are looking for solutions that address the problems they face in introducing and advertising their products to the market. Some of the suggestions provided by the members of the association included establishing exhibitions where women can present their products.
– The entrepreneurs are also facing some problems regarding rules and regulations. (Although it was not clear whether they require help in terms of awareness of the rules and regulation or rather pushing for some reforms, etc)
– Financial issue is another obstacle that women entrepreneurs are facing. In response to this problem, the members of the associations proposed publishing guidelines and information in order to compensate for the failure of centers of development and entrepreneurship in training, communication, and establishing appropriate capacity for support. Another proposal was organizing brainstorming rooms where members can offer and assess new ideas and then attract sponsors for these projects.

Wednesday: Province of Zanjan, Abhar
As planned, the plastic recycling workshop, “Shamim Bahar Khodabandeh Cooperative”, run by Mrs. Sara Shahrodi was visited in this trip. This cooperative has 7 members and 6 female workers. Recycling materials are sent to this workshop from all over Zanjan and even from Province of Ardebil. In the workshop, the material are separated based on color and then grinded in the mill. Afterwards, the grinded materials are washed, dried, and finally packaged. The packages are then distributed to plastic manufacturers.
The visit to the workshop was followed by a seminar. In addition to the members of the associations, Mrs. Shahrado (the workshop manager) and Mrs. Shabani (the seminar organizer) attended this seminar. Mrs. Shahrodi has been an active member of the association since its formation and the association has followed her activities closely. The establishment of this workshop is her latest activity which she began 4 years ago. Mrs. Shabani, who is in charge of Social Affairs of Abhar governorship, gave detailed explanations about her activities in the Province of Zanjan. In addition to those activities, Mrs. Shabani has been active in other fields including forming the Association of Developmental Entrepreneurs of Zanjan. Some of the interesting and important points in her note are summarized below:
– All her activities were in the extent of more than 240 villages of the area.
– She has institutionalized the religious organizations in the villages and has made one female religious organization in each village. These female organizations are used as a tool for other social issues related to women.
– She has created occupations such as hairdressing (for women) and tailoring, which were not available before.
– In addition, she has been in charge of female athletic affairs in the province for more that 240 villages. She has initiated coordinated exercises in all villages and has been working on combative sports for girls. In order to facilitate this, one woman has been chosen from each village as a coach and has been sent to the city for training.
– She has created networks in the province that are in contact with not only women, but families as a whole. This form of communication will create an appropriate culture for women’s active presence in the society.
– Government sources are not sufficient and are reliant on charitable people for securing resources for its activities.
– Recently, young girls have been targeted and they have arranged special programs for them.
In general, the main focus of Mrs. Shabani’s activities is in the field of social entrepreneurship. We can further cooperate with her for the 2009 seminar and ask her to present her case. It is advised to invite her to write an article regarding her activities.

Friday: Seminar on entrepreneurship in urban planning in Azad University of Zanjan

This one day seminar which was organized by Urban Planning group of Azad University of Zanjan was put together with the help of professors and students. This seminar comprised of three speeches, the first being a brief introduction of the association by Mrs. Mohtashamipour. The second speech was delivered by Mrs. Bakhtari who shared her experiences on urban planning. And lastly, Mrs. Soleymani delivered her speech on “Procedures for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship in Iran.”
It is presumed that this seminar was organized in the framework of one of the senior courses at the university. For this reasons, the participants demonstrated a greater understanding of the concepts in the field of entrepreneurship and thereby creating a more suitable environment. From the speeches, Mrs. Bakhtari’s speech and her experiences received the most enthusiasm from the participants.
Question and Answer Period:
As it was announced beforehand, a question and answer period was scheduled for the students. In this session, which was mostly attended by female students, only few questions were brought up. The most important question was on how to start a business and what opportunities and facilities are provided for entrepreneurs. Another question was about obstacles that women face as entrepreneurs. These questions were answered by the members of the association. In general, the students were curious about the experiences of the members of the associations in entrepreneurship. Hence, some time was allocated to introducing the members.
It is evident that entrepreneurship workshops will be received eagerly at universities. Therefore, it is suggested to assess the establishment of these workshops and if appropriate, to be placed on the memo. The speeches that were prepared for this seminar were in harmony with the goals of the associations and had high quality. A part of this program was designated to the activities of the students. This part was also delivered fairly well and was very interesting.
In Summary, this trip was organized efficiently and despite the range of activities that were planned, we were able to meet all of our set goals. The collective opinion of the dispatched members is that presence at the university gatherings and contact with students can be more beneficial, given that in this environment contact with participants takes place more efficiently and logically. Hence, it is suggested by this group to make networking with students a central focus of the associations. It should also be reminded that the association’s introduction slides need to be updated.