Prime Highlights
- The McLean County Chamber of Commerce hosted its inaugural Women in Business conference, bringing together more than 100 professionals for learning and networking.
- The event focused on leadership, professional development, and helping women navigate change in the workplace.
Key Facts
- The conference featured a keynote address, expert panel discussion, and networking sessions at the Park Regency Hotel in Bloomington.
- The Chamber plans to expand the Women in Business conference into an annual initiative supporting women professionals across McLean County.
Background
The second edition of the FEMMPACT programme wrapped up at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat, with 104 women entrepreneurs from Benin, Mauritania and Togo presenting the outcomes of an initiative built to strengthen women-led businesses across West Africa.
The closing ceremony featured a showcase of 18 minimum viable products developed by participants over the course of the programme. The projects spanned sectors including agrifood, renewable energy and technology.
Launched in January 2025, FEMMPACT runs through a three-way partnership between the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation, the German Agency for International Cooperation and the Socio-Economic Impact Institute at UM6P.
The programme is rooted in King Mohammed VI’s vision for South-South cooperation and brought together African and international experts to guide participants through idea development, market validation and business model design.
Nine representatives from incubators across the three countries also took part in capacity-building and knowledge-sharing sessions to strengthen support structures for entrepreneurs back home.
Professor Bouchra Rahmouni, director of the Socio-Economic Impact Institute at UM6P, said the programme placed co-construction, co-development and co-creation at the heart of its approach to African partnerships.
She added that participants were encouraged to build ideas tied to sustainable development, digitalisation and inclusive growth while staying connected to African identity.
Sebastian Wilde, head of cooperation at the German Embassy in Rabat, said supporting female entrepreneurs was both a development priority and a social responsibility. He noted that the projects presented at the closing ceremony showed strong innovation from young entrepreneurs.
FEMMPACT began in 2023 with Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire before expanding this year to Benin, Mauritania and Togo, and has since grown into a regional network spanning seven countries.
