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Weekly UpdatesTwelve chamber members recently had the chance to host 19 women from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), thanks lo a partnership between the Detroit Regional Chamber, the University of Michigan-Dearborn and the Arab American Women's Business Council (AAWBC).
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This program came about through a grant the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Henry W. Patton Center for Engineering and Practice (HP-CEEP) received in order to develop this fellowship program. The intent is to form networks between the women and their host companies here in the U.S. - networks that will last long after the fellowship is over. The women came from many countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, UAE - AL-Ain and Yemen, and they were hosted by the HP-CEEP in Dearborn.
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The women chosen to participate in the fellowships are in their mid-20s to late 30s, have degrees and experience in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics, and speak fluent English. They were placed in companies where they could participate in an eight-week fellowship in their specific field. The fellowship not only provided a multi-cultural working experience for the women, but also for the host company.
The 12 companies who hosted the women were found through the chamber and the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Many of the companies noted that the biggest benefit from the fellowship experience was cultural.
Mark Ostach of Digerati, Inc., said Munira, from Oman, gave their small company lessons on Arabic. He noted that Digerati employees benefited from the fellowship experience by working closely with Munira and learning different perspectives on a familiar business of computer science, giving the projects diversity from that of the American employees. Being a smaller company, the impact of a foreign culture impacted their work culture immediately, and Ostach said the impact was absolutely positive. Ostach said Digerati would be very excited to participate in this kind of a program again because of the impact and diversity Munira and her culture brought to (he company and its employees.
Throughout the eight-week fellowship, the women spent three to four days a week working and learning from their host company and one day taking a class and familiarizing themselves with the research environment at the University of Michigan.
DTE Energy hosted four women from four different countries. Mary Boda, the senior client relations consultant for DTE, said one woman, Faiza, from Oman, told her that the work atmosphere in her country was actually quite similar. There are cubicles, computers and different employees with different perspectives, who all work together, with one common goal. The differences that were seen from the women were mainly in the American culture.
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Tel K. Ganesan, President & CEO of 3D Solutions, Inc. hosted two of the women in the fellowship, one from Egypt and one from Morocco. Their company was also mostly impacted by the cultural experience. They found their work experience was also similar. However, Ganesan said his employees learned a different cultural perspective working with the women. During their orientation for the fellowship, they were warned not to make eye contact with the women because of where they were from. However, they quickly learned that business etiquette adapts to the environment, because not too long after the women arrived everyone was shaking hands and having conversations with no worries about eye contact.
Ganesan said with more time than the short eight weeks, the women and 3d Solutions could have learned more from the experience, but overall the experience was good and beneficial to all involved parties. The women received exposure to another company in a foreign country, and the same was true for the 3D Solutions employees. This gave everybody a "big picture" Ganesan said. "This experience not only empowered these women, but with their experience it can empower generations to come."
The women who come to work these fellowships benefited from the experience in a variety of ways. Not only did the women get a chance to work and learn from their host companies, but they were also shown the "after-work and weekend" life of an American woman, said Jumana Judeh, president of Judeh ft Associates, Inc., and also a member of the AAWBC. The women got to experience a Tiger's game, a play downtown, Washington D.C., The Henry Ford and Cedar Point. Judeh said meeting and spending time with these women was not only entertaining, but it broke any stereotype of women from the Middle East. Judeh was impressed by the similarity she saw in the women from the MENA region and the women in the AAWBC, and how easily they all connected.
Executive Director of Metro Solutions, Rose Khalifa said the women were so amazed to come here and see the success of the Arab American women they interacted with. Seeing women in leadership positions opened their eyes to realize that they too can achieve anything they dream of.
The next stage of the Fellowship program is to follow up with the girls in their country, said Thelma Castillo, executive vice president of the Detroit Regional Chamber. The first step of providing the women with their fellowship/ American experience is done. Now, it is up to them to take that information back to the Middle East and build on what they learned. Castillo said this fellowship was a way for businesses in our region to connect with the MENA Region through these women and their networking relationships.
"This fellowship strengthened the bond between the chamber, AAWBC and the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The success of this partnership should send a strong message on how to do things, and the importance of working together to accomplish goals," said Judeh, regarding what the region can learn from the experience.
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RELATED ARTICLE: Participating Companies
* University of Michigan
* DTE Energy
* 3D Solutions
* Housey Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories
* Oakwood Hospital
* Dow Chemical
* Vision Tech Solutions
* TiE Detroit
* Digerati, Inc.
* RSB Systems, Inc.
* Lakeshore Engineering
* Ford Motor Co.
Amanda is a freelance writer from Wixom.
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