To discuss prospects for supporting women entrepreneurs and small business owners, Eng. Wafaa Abu Labdeh—Board Member of the Chamber and Head of the Industrial Women Business Committee—met with Ms. Paola Polancia, Representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The meeting was attended by several women from the "Basmat Fan" (Art's Imprint) forum and participants of the Circus Amman exhibition.During the meeting, Ms. Paola confirmed that the organization is currently implementing the "Nasij Al-Amal" (Textile of Hope) project in cooperation with the Italian Government, which funds the initiative. The project aims to revitalize and revive the garment and textile sector in Syria through a three-dimensional strategy based on updating policies and legislation governing the sector, capacity building for economic institutions and chambers of industry, and providing direct support to factories and workers to ensure production sustainability and improve working conditions. Special focus is placed on owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to their vital role in the economic recovery process.For her part, Eng. Wafaa Abu Labdeh stressed the importance of accumulated, organized, and sustainable work to achieve lasting results. She pointed out that the previous years left harsh impacts on industrial facilities and families as a whole; many factories were destroyed, and many women did not receive sufficient opportunities and the necessary facilitation to overcome those challenges. Abu Labdeh added that the damage suffered by industrial facilities and the lack of available job opportunities pushed many women—despite holding university degrees and high academic qualifications—to invest in their hobbies and turn them into professions and commercial businesses to support their families' income. She called for the need to respect these transformations and provide a conducive environment to turn these initiatives into established, sustainable, and scalable projects. She emphasized that the past fourteen years took a toll on everyone's youth and effort, making the support and empowerment of these women a duty to compensate for those years and drive the wheel of economic recovery.The meeting featured in-depth discussions and demands presented by the business owners. These focused on securing permanent sales spaces and outlets, opening the door for participation in international exhibitions to promote Syrian heritage and ancient handicrafts, and providing advanced training courses in cooperation with international fashion houses. Their demands also included providing long-term loans, establishing a comprehensive handicraft complex, and launching a unified digital platform for professional marketing. Meanwhile, the ILO representative expressed full understanding of these needs, confirming that the possibility of meeting them will be studied through sustainable partnerships and mentorship programs that ensure the continuity and development of the projects
27/7/2026
