Sometimes one person is enough to turn a conference into the experience of a lifetime.
Widad Ibrahim grew up in Sudan on a farm owned by her grandmother.
She used to sell eggs at the side of the road. This is how she developed her business sense and how she got the idea to start selling apartments in Khartoum.
One business led to another and Widad now owns one of the largest industrial groups in Sudan with 800 employees. Her Bee Group includes gas stations, an oil company, an aviation business and a property development company.
I was sitting in a conference room at the World Bank with tears in my eyes. Something in that story sounded close to home. My grandmother, who used to manage a farm in post-war Italy, would have been very proud of Widad.
What an incredible story!
And there is more.
In 2002, Widad asked the male-only Businessmen Union in Khartoum to give her a room where women entrepreneurs could meet. In 2006, for the first time in the history of Sudan, a woman was elected to join the Union.
Widad visited Grameen Bank and got the idea to start the first micro-credit bank in Sudan. Her Family Bank, set up with other Sudanese business women, has more than 35 million US$ in its accounts.
During the train ride back to New York, I couldn’t shake Widad’s face from my mind. Her colourful hijab and the beautiful henna drawings on her hands and feet. Such an inspiring presence.
I am so fortunate to have heard her story. It is one that I will continue telling, again and again.
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