FIVE young Bahraini women have won funding to launch an investment association to support female entrepreneurs.
According to the Gulf Daily News, the Bahrain University students will get the backing they need from Zain, after being declared winners of the Zain Dream Campaign for November.
Zain timed the announcement to coincide with celebrations to mark Bahraini Women's Day.
It was won over by the women's proposal to launch a Women Association for Starting Investment (WASI), which will support businesswomen with a cultural management programme and a showroom for women's projects.
The Zain Dream campaign, which kicked off in April this year, selects a winning idea each month and helps the person behind it realise their dream project - as long as it complies with the company's objectives of education, youth empowerment, development and helping people with special needs.
Wafa Al Ansari, one of the students, said all five of them had a background in business management and administration.
"From conversations with friends and relatives, we realised that there was a great need for a facility that will help Bahraini women to tap their potential as businesswomen," she explained.
She added the project would act as an interface between businesswomen and the public.
Zain Dream campaign president Dr Fouad Shehab said the women had been imaginative and meticulous in drawing up their plan.
"It brings out the potential of serving the community," he added.
"It is the work of young Bahrainis and shows innovation. We also feel it is committed to serving the community. We were all unanimous in voting the project the winner."
The other four women involved in the project are Renan Ahmed, Maryam Salman, Hala Rashid and Fatima Al Ansari.
Earlier winners have been 22-year-old Bahraini Mohammed Saleh Alorayed, whose dream is to set up a recording studio to promote and preserve Bahrain's musical heritage; 23-year-old Bahraini Hamad Al Mahari, who plans to set up an e-magazine about cars; 22-year-old Bahraini Nawaf Saeed Hussain, who plans to market an invention that allows shoppers to navigate their way around malls and tourism sites, as well as keep track of their children; and Briton Cara Mattias, 36, who plans to help train budding Bahraini gymnasts for the 2012 Olympic Games and Special Olympics.