Why should the Muslim world care about women-led social enterprises?

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will soon be reviewing nominees for the 2018 Women’s Contribution to Development Prize that recognizes and rewards women’s participation in development. Since 2006, the prize has introduced to the world Muslim women who tackle complex development problems with original solutions.

Past individual winners include Runa Khan, who in 2008 won for the very first floating hospital ship in Bangladesh, Laila Mandi, who won the prize in 2015 for her work leading a research team that invented a soil brick that cleans wastewater for agriculture irrigation, and last year the award for institutions went to Palestine’s Dunya Women’s Cancer Centre that is the only clinic in the West Bank to specialise in gynecological and breast cancer.  

This year’s prize, to be announced in April, is a great opportunity to emphasize women’s role not only as beneficiaries of development waiting rescue but also as benefactors of development. It is also an opportune moment to delve into what women’s development work can do for the Muslim world. Social entrepreneurship particularly provides the best angle for such an inquiry.