WISE Profile: Ayat Atallah
Ayat Atallah is a Chemical Engineer from Nablus, West Bank, Palestine. She is another returning businesswomen from cycle one's Fostering Women Entrepreneurs in Nablus (FWEN) for our phase two project Women's Incubation Services for Entrepreneurs (WISE).
A graduate of An-Najah National University, class of 2009, her dreams following her studies were to be a scientific researcher and discover an environmentally friendly product that would improve the carbon footprint in Palestine. Her graduation project on “Tensile Properties of Used Paper/ Recycled LDPE Blends” won two prizes of excellence and innovation in science; one from Arab American University and the other from Alnayzak Foundation. She continued working on their graduation project until she earned a patent for a new thermal insulation material Paper-Plastic Insulation Boards in February 2012.
With the full support and encouragement of her family and WISE, Ayat is working tirelessly to excel in her dream of being a female entrepreneur in order to gain financial independence and thus be her own decision-maker. Green Technologies Inc., the business she tried to launch as a FWEN participant, did not quite gain the traction she had hoped for since the starting capital proved difficult to raise. This did not stop Ayat from returning for WISE to incubate her more nascent composting business.
She listed the top three areas of growth she has seen in herself from the start of FWEN in 2010 until now, as the following: 1. Confidence 2. Increase in networks 3. Improvement in English
Her advice for budding entrepreneurs is:
Keep on dreaming, but be proactive in making your business a reality as well because it will not be handed to you magically. Do not give up when you face challenges, rather keep on believing in yourself until your dreams come true.
We invite you to follow Ayat along in her journey this year to share in the many accomplishments she achieves with WISE!
-Samin Samin is the Program Coordinator for Women’s Empowerment Programs.