Shereen Allam is the e-commerce advisor of World Bank (We-Fi project), which strives to lessen the financial and non-financial barriers that small businesses owned by women encounter. We-Fi helps businesses by providing loans, capital, equity, insurance products, buildings, connections, and opportunities for female entrepreneurs to engage with both domestic and foreign markets.&nbsp;
Shereen Allam was Zeinab's guest on "Good Vibes Only" where she discusses the importance of networking, being a part of the International Women's Summit and how this platforms sheds light on women and gives them a space to connect.&nbsp;
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How did you decide that this is what you want to do?
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I have been a go getter, I mean up to the time I graduated, actually the whole thing has been that I wanted to finish university and start working, but that&rsquo;s it. I mean nothing else, I never had in my mind that I want to create a company or I wanna be an entrepreneur or all of these things that you really do when you want to be an achiever. It was good enough for me to find a good job and work. One day I woke up and I had a vision that I want to create something and that pushed me to leave everything behind and just do it. It was crazy and out of character, but I did it and I loved every minute of it.&rdquo;
How does it feel being part of the International Women Summit?
&ldquo;I think that the women&rsquo;s summit is about celebrating women, what they achieve, what do they do. I think women are not covered enough in the media, and it does not show what they do, and how much impact they do. Summits like the Women Summit really shows where they are and what they do today, what they&rsquo;ve done in their lives, and how they can help others. That&rsquo;s the beauty of it.
Most of the speakers are women and they are actually heard, finally they have a voice, they can share their experiences, their opinions, they can discuss it. Also at the same time, it brings knowledge, and it brings experience because all the attendees are listening to what others have done and they can contact them. Also, the summit creates a lot of networking and the connections lasts for years to come.&rdquo;
How did it come about that you were approached to be on the board of speakers?
&ldquo;I was with them last summit, and also the topics, I have played roles in the topics that they have chosen. So, I think one of the main things is that they want to hear the opinion and the impact that I went through and what I have done, to share my own experience, which is varied.&rdquo;
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The summit focuses on new ways of thinking, what are some fresh perspective you are hoping to hear?
&ldquo;The main point is that everybody thinks good ideas, but how do we make them happen? It is always good thoughts and innovative creative thoughts; how do we make it a reality? I think you make them happen by actually seeing them before it happens, I visualize and I can bring it back to reality step by step. I need it see the end result. Usually, people believe when they see something that it always has to happen as a whole thing and not in bits and pieces. Nothing happen as a whole thing.
You divide it into bits and pieces, of course it is ideal to divide them into bigger chucks as it makes it less troublesome to work on all the details and link them together and make it work. Sometimes you really have to break them into small pieces because the opportunities out there really are for the small pieces. You have to start somewhere and the rest will fall into place because you start looking for it.&rdquo;
What are the challenges you see women encounter today?
&ldquo;The community could change the mind set about what women can do. I think women already changed that about themselves, but others have to start to believe that. I mean you still hear bits and pieces like, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think this is okay for women&rdquo;, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think this will be appropriate for you to be in that position or doing this thing&rdquo;. I think that is one of the challenges, and another thing is how women believe in themselves, because many women have the abilities, they can be anywhere, they could be in any position, but because of what happens in their culture, they hold back.&rdquo;
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Why platforms like the International Women&rsquo;s Summit are important?
&ldquo;Women usually don&rsquo;t have these platforms, now it is better definitely, but it took years to get there. Networking for women was not that easy. Networking usually happens at times when women couldn&rsquo;t join, it happened in men&rsquo;s clubs and gathering points. I mean that was a long time ago, it is not happening anymore because women managed to get into a lot of the areas and they broke the glass barriers. Women need to get together as they do not work together enough&hellip; Women have to help one another&hellip; Now the opportunities are more, women can get into any position, to tell you the truth. It&rsquo;s becoming better. This is opening up the opportunity for women to help each other.&rdquo;
How is the current generation of women in Egypt different than the previous generations?
&ldquo;They are ready to fail. Before, a woman wanted to prove that she can succeed, now she wants to prove that she can succeed, but she is not afraid to fail and that is making every woman stronger, more open to risks, to opportunities, venturing to things she wouldn&rsquo;t have done before.&rdquo;
If you were to describe the Egyptian woman in three words, what were they be?
"Creative- Strong- Perseverance."
If you were to give advice to aspiring business women, what would it be?
"Believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, don't be scared to dream a dream and try to work for it and it doesn't work, dream another one. The failures don't count, the successes do. They count if you consider them as if they are showing you the way to the future and not stopping you from seeing the future. It is how you look at it, I mean most women look as "I am not made for this" and they stop. My advice is that try and look and learn what you have seen in the journey and go for another goal, another dream. It doesn't make a difference if it doesn't happen with the first one. It is not wrong. We believe as women that if we don't achieve the first dream that comes to us, that we failed and we stop. Our life time is about dreams."

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