Cisco Entrepreneur Institute helps female lawyers in the Middle East become successful entrepreneurs

WILpower, an extension of the Academy for Educational Department (AED), is supported by the Middle East Partnership Institute (MEPI) of the U.S. Department of State, and represents a cooperative regional information exchange network dedicated to female law students and young legal practitioners in the Middle East and the North Africa region.

In essence, WILpower addresses the challenges female Arab lawyers and law students face by providing them with appropriate training and networking support as well as developing communication technology solutions.

Recently, WILpower launched a web site which includes seminars and lectures that discuss the region's decisive legal issues. The site creates an opportunity for lawyers to exchange skills, resources, and knowledge on laws, leadership, and private institutions. The program aspires to reach a large number of female law students and practitioners in the Middle East and North Africa.

The QRCE organized the first session of business training during the regional WILpower workshop in January, followed by 12 online training sessions conducted using interactive internet training tools. The thirteenth session will be held during the second regional workshop in May. The first session of the training included the first module of the "Starting a Business" workshop developed by the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute, which focuses on building entrepreneurial skills for legal practitioners, and introduces the definition of business planning and its role in driving business success.

The Cisco Entrepreneur Institute is focused on educating entrepreneurs around the globe. Working with local government and private sector organizations, Cisco's mission is to help communities and nations harness the power of entrepreneurs small and medium business entrepreneurs to stimulate economic growth and social prosperity.

Cisco believes this initiative will create significant long-term benefits and help transform the economic landscape for its customers and partners, while enabling Cisco to further expand its business and social impact on a global scale.

In mid 2008, The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship was announced as a regional partner for the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute Initiative. This relationship aims to improve the entrepreneurial spirit among the Jordanian youth through extensive training and to drive more potential national partners to utilize the advantages provided by Cisco to the Jordanian community and beyond.