Baltimore Businesswoman Returns from Middle East Business Development Summit

Berthold Chosen to Speak with Summit Attendees from 17 Countries

November 28, 2006. (Baltimore, MD) Gloria Berthold, President of TargetGov, recently returned from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after participating in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Businesswoman’s Summit 2006. Berthold was one of five U.S. business owners invited to participate in the Summit and provide discussion group facilitation and one-on-one mentoring to the 250 women attending from 17 countries. She also personally coordinated and delivered proclamations from three different organizations in the U.S. to Dr. Rawdha Abdullah Al-Muttawaa, Chairperson of the Abu Dhabi Business Women Council.

The MENA Businesswomen’s Summit was sponsored by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) of the U.S. Department of State with the support of the Abu Dhabi Business Women Council and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and was presented under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

Berthold said “Businesswomen in the Middle East and North Africa deal with the same challenges as we do in the U.S. – start-up issues, financing growth, opening new markets, and finding, training and keeping good employees all while contributing to the community and caring for family. I found that we had more similarities than differences and was delighted to discover that these common threads allowed frank and open discussion of not just the common problems, but also encouraged creative thinking of a range of solutions.”

The Summit was a forum for 250 dynamic women from 17 countries and territories from Iraq to Morocco to join with women executives and leaders from the United States to take entrepreneurship in the region to the next level. MEPI announced at the Summit that new businesswomen’s hubs have been formed to provide ongoing support of this network in Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These hubs are as a result of the dreams and goals expressed by the businesswomen at the first summit in 2005, which was held in Tunisia.

In addition to the discussions and roundtables, featured presenters included a speech of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, H. E. Suhair Al Ali, Minister of Industry and International Cooperation, Jordan; The Honorable Karen Hughes, Under Secretary of State and Public Diplomacy; The Honorable Michele Sison, U. S. Ambassador to the U.A.E. and from the Forbes List of the 50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World: Raja Easa Al Gurg, Managing Director Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group.

“To say I was honored to be chosen to participate is an understatement of great magnitude” said Berthold. “While I consider this to be a trip of a lifetime, it has also opened my eyes to the opportunities we have outside of our own borders. I am now inspired to redouble my efforts to be a business facilitator and connect U.S. businesspeople with global opportunities and help open doors here for those who wish to do business with us.”

Berthold coordinated the creation and in-person delivery of proclamations from the following organizations declaring congratulations and support for the businesswomen’s efforts in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.: Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), a national. organization representing a half million business women throughout the U.S., the Baltimore-Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce, the only regional chamber in the mid-Atlantic area, and the Business Women’s Network of Howard County. “I felt that these three organizations represented a wide range of businesswomen in the U.S. and was moved that they would each agree to participate in sending official greetings and open the doors to future communications with the women in Abu Dhabi.

Note: Photos can be provided in electronic format upon request.

Gloria Berthold is president of TargetGov at Marketing Outsource Associates, Inc, a full service business development firm specializing in government contracting and business to business markets. She can be reached through the web site: http://www.targetgov.com/.