A luminary in her own right: H.E. Laila Rahhal El Atfani on balancing business with philanthropy

A visionary entrepreneur herself, she is attuned to the cause of women empowerment. She rejects inquiries of how to be a great woman leader or how to succeed as a woman entrepreneur. “Leadership is leadership. An entrepreneur is an entrepreneur,” she states, “It doesn’t matter whether it is a man or a woman.” To be a great leader, there is some criterion that forms the basis of outstanding leadership, but there is no set mold, and certainly no one gender to be accomplished at it. At the end, the most important quality of a great leader is to empower others. “A person who wants to be successful will only be able to achieve true success when they empower and uplift other people along with them,” she notes.

As someone with a keen interest in empowering SMEs and Micro- SMEs, Her Excellency says, “For me, SMEs are the big businesses of tomorrow, provided they find someone to support, guide, and empower them.” She believes that a business needs a clear strategy and vision, a core team, and a good advisor. But, most importantly, the makings of a successful business emerge from knowledge. “Never enter any business if you don’t study the market. Always seek knowledge and study more, and if you don’t know… LEARN.”