A Writer, an Entrepreneur and a Mother: Meet Egypt’s Wonder Woman

There is no ‘dead time’ concept for Rasha Abo Elsoud: she juggles her multiple identities as a writer, an entrepreneur and a mother of two with graceful mastery. The founder of The Workshops and MAKTABY, along with her latest network Women Entrepreneurs of Egypt, Abo Elsoud has also published five Arabic books.

“I think that I was blessed by three factors: I was raised to be creative, I wasn’t afraid to step out of my comfort zone, and I received insight and help from amazingly generous people,” she says in an interview with BarakaBits.

The entrepreneur started to follow her passion for writing long before being an entrepreneur. Writing online since 2006, she published her first book in 2011. “Sometimes I hit a writer’s block that could extend to months because of how challenging it is to be a social entrepreneur. But It always flows back. Writing is my soul speaking,” she says.

But Abo Elsoud insists that her case is no exception among Egyptian women. “Female entrepreneurship is not a new practice in Egypt. For hundreds of years, women entrepreneurs have been helping their families by doing independent micro-projects; it is the business definition and the ecosystem which are fairly new,” she says.

For more information: Visit the Women Entrepreneurs of Egypt website and watch her TEDx Talk here.