Entrepreneur Advice from Essma Ben Hamida: Maintain a balance

December 21, 2018 Melanie Hawken

Essma Ben Hamida, co-founder and Executive Director of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia) — **Essma Ben Hamida**, co-founder and Executive Director of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia)

It's essential to maintain a balance....

“Maintain a balance between your private life and your work. Do what you are passionate about so you can give more. I am happy and passionate even if I work a lot. Take care of your health so you will be able to see the results of your hard work.”

Essma Ben Hamida, co-founder of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia)

Quote of the Day by Essma Ben Hamida

August 11, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Essma Ben Hamida, co-founder of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia) — **Essma Ben Hamida**, co-founder of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia)

"Money empowers women and lets them contribute in decision-making."

- Essma Ben Hamida is a Tunisian born development activist, co-founder and Executive Director of Enda Inter-Arabe in Tunisia, and President of the Sanabel Microfinance network of Arab countries. Essma launched Enda in 1995 as the first microcredit institution in Tunisia. Today, with a staff of 1300 working out of 79 branches, Enda serves 270,000 micro-entrepreneurs (70% are women) with a US$150 million loan portfolio and a repayment rate above 99%. Essma was selected Social Entrepreneur of the year for the MENA region in 2010 by the prestigious Schwab Foundation.

Quote of the Day by Essma Ben Hamida

June 7, 2016 Melanie Hawken

“I discovered I can’t change the world, but let’s start with my country.”

Quote of the Day by Essma Ben Hamida

January 19, 2016 Melanie Hawken

“One of the objectives for me with microfinance is to change the mindset from charity to counting on your own resources – for men and women alike. This involves opening up women’s minds to micro-business, and men’s minds to accepting that their wives and daughters can run a business and contribute to the family and the country’s economy.”

- Essma Ben Hamida is a Tunisian born development activist, co-founder and Executive Director of Enda Inter-Arabe in Tunisia, and President of the Sanabel Microfinance network of Arab countries. Essma launched Enda in 1995 as the first microcredit institution in Tunisia. Today, Enda has 235,000 active clients (70% women), a $110 million portfolio, 78 branches, and 1,100 staff. Essma was selected Social Entrepreneur of the year for the MENA region in 2010 by the prestigious Schwab Foundation.

Quote of the Day

September 8, 2015 Melanie Hawken

"Women in Tunisia are active; they want to work and own a business; they have Phoenician blood from Dido and the Queen of Carthage .... Money empowers women and lets them contribute in decision-making. After 20 years I can see the changes. Everything changed completely for these entrepreneurial women."

- Essma Ben Hamida is director of Enda Inter-Arabe (Enda), which she co-founded in 1990. She is also the President of the microfinance network of Arab countries Sanabel. In 1995, Enda launched the first microcredit institution in Tunisia, which today reaches around 40,000 active clients, mainly women, in the poor areas of Tunisia. Previously, Essma worked as a secondary school teacher and as a TV journalist/reporter. She opened the first bureau of the national press agency, TAP, in New York at the United Nations.