A symposium entitled “Women: Breaking Business Barriers” was held this week at the 11th annual Economic Conference for Jewish and Arab Businesswomen in Israel. It was sponsored by The Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development in partnership with Jasmine: the Association of Businesswomen in Israel and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

There are more than 40,000 women-owned businesses registered in Israel today and Jasmine is the only national association that unites Jewish and Arab businesswomen under one umbrella body to address issues faced by all businesswomen, across all sectors of Israeli society.

Among the services that Jasmine provides are business consulting, empowerment and entrepreneurship training, a bi-lingual, Hebrew and Arabic comprehensive business guide and the Jasmine Internet Portal.

Approximately 300 participants attended the conference, including senior managers, leading Israeli and international businesswomen – both Jewish and Arab – and representatives of government offices and public figures.

Guest of Honor Mrs. Cherie Blair, Founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women addressed the audience as did Ofra Strauss, Chairperson of Strauss Group and Prof. Avishay Braverman, Minister of Minority Affairs.