Giving women entrepreneurs in the West Bank the support they need

Rawan Rajab is the founder of “Blue Stone,” a business that recycles waste such as glass, paper and wood, and transforms it into environmentally friendly interior stones.

Hoping to expand her small business, the 21-year-old from the West Bank applied to the She Succeeds project. This project, which is implemented by Save the Children and receives Canada’s support, provides assistance to women-led small-scale entrepreneurs.

“I benefited quite a lot from the project’s training courses, which focused on how to refine and develop the project idea, market it and produce a plan for economic feasibility, as well as how to acquire funding in the future,” say Rawan.

The funding gave Rawan the tools she needed to expand, including a waste treatment and mixing machine, and the moulds for forming the stones. She has now started to receive orders from all over the West Bank and is hoping to increase production, open a showroom and even design an eco friendly home.

Rawan is now a role model in her community. She is encouraging other women to look to opportunities in the environmental field for economic empowerment.

“We, young people, have to be the instrument of change and the leaders of change, not wait for change from the society in which we live, and that’s what I’ve pursued.”