Dubai: Encouraging more jobs for women in mobile phone retail and telecoms industries across 11 emerging countries could help families and boost revenues for mobile companies, suggests a new study released in Dubai yesterday.
Spearheaded by the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, the study was conducted in cooperation with 14 mobile operators across the Middle East, Africa and Asia and comes more than a year after a study found that 300 million women globally do not have access to mobile phones.
Cherie Blair, foundation founder and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, presented the findings yesterday at the Middle East Telco World Summit.
"I think it's all about showing what women can do, about showing that women actually can contribute to the economy and still fulfil their desires to be a wife and mother and also be respectful to their local community," Blair told Gulf News in an interview.
"Here in the Middle East we have more educated women coming forward, this will allow them to put that education to use and the mobile phone allows them to do that," she said.
Building capability
Blair said the study by her foundation was undertaken following an initial study done in 2010 that showed encouraging women to enter the workforce could yield up to $13 billion in revenue for mobile operators.
"My foundation focuses on supporting women entrepreneurs to growth their businesses in South Africa, Africa and the Middle East," Blair said.
"We help women entrepreneurs in building capability, confidence and ultimately capital resulting in a brighter future, not just for themselves but also for their family's communities and economies at large."
In particular, the study found that mobile operators can increase revenues through the employment of more women which help create "stronger brand imaging and access to untapped markets."
One example of mobile retail sales helping women entrepreneurs is Vodafone Qatar's Al Johara programme where new female employees are trained to sell mobile phones and accessories from corporate suitcases in their homes.
Hayfaa Al Merri, Al Johara spokeswoman, said yesterday that about 20 women were first hired at the outset of the pilot programme that is reporting high levels of success.
"It's a life changing experience for all of them," Al Merri said. "It is quite challenging but they are doing it."
Safe from their homes in Qatar, the women are selling SIM cards, connections and handsets to everyone from community school teachers to university students, "people who can't reach the Vodafone store," Al Merri said.
