Climate projects among finalists of MENA Women Entrepreneurs contest

Women entrepreneurs were awarded prizes for acting with distinction for a resilient future in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The award ceremony of the WeMENA contest -Women Entrepreneurs of the MENA region, held on 29 - 30 April in Casablanca, Morocco, granted awards to four women entrepreneurs out of the 200 participants. The four winners, respectively from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine, shared between them a prize of $ 150,000.

Climate relevant projects were the focus of several initiatives. The WeMENA contest, supported by the World bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), aims to promote women entrepreneurship, rewarding innovative projects designed to address the major urban development challenges facing the region in the areas of transport, energy, infrastructure and sustainable development. The top 10 finalists were all awarded a trip to the United States to continue their leadership and training. Two of the finalists were selected for projects specifically addressing climate change issues.

Selma Ben’akcha, a 21-year-old student from Morocco, founder of Alternative Solutions enterprise, was awarded third place in the competition, collecting a $ 20,000 prize. Her social project fights deforestation and climate change, producing and marketing palm branches based on wood and fodder. The aim of the enterprise is to minimize deforestation through the commercialization of wood and the creation of employment opportunities.

Rosemary Romanos, from Lebanon, founder of SunRay Energy offers rural communities the possibility of capital-free solar energy electrification. The scheme allows individual homeowners to transform their solar energy production and resulting diesel fuel savings, into investment payments. In turn, this helps overcome the financial barriers to solar energy, enabling quicker payback for investments in renewable energy.