The second workshop of the Qatar Business Women Award 2008 (QBWA) was held yesterday at the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) headquarters. Samira Fakhri, a member of the Qatar Business Women Forum (QBWF) inaugurated the workshop. The floor was give to Iman Ghafan Al Basti, another member of QBWF, who conducted the lecture in Arabic, and later on when asked how she felt the first workshop was, she said, "…it is encouraging to see so many women attend the workshop and are keen to make a difference to Qatari society. I'm sure this time around we will have more then 50 participants sit in on the lectures." Judith Barton, the director of The Development Partnership, lectured the candidates in English. Barton told the Peninsula before the workshop began, "I was very impressed with the calibre of the ladies who attended the first workshop. We had highly motivated participants from such diverse fields as banking and advertising to governmental and medical institutions as well as business owners - all of whom are extremely keen to participate in the award scheme." The Qatari icon, Nada Zeidan, attended the second workshop and is applying for the prestigious award. Nada Zeidan is a renowned accomplished young Qatari woman. While the turn out of the second workshop included more candidates from the professional field, Barton said, "The trend here was from the professions, which is similar to estimates on an international level, but this is a real opportunity to do business with the ladies." Before the beginning of the workshop, Barton said that the candidates in the previous workshop were eager to learn. The women are committed and are eager to understand what QBWA is about, the process, the criteria. There was "tremendous enthusiasm in the room, participants not only eager to learn, but also have a high level of interest, and wanted to apply themselves," Barton said. The Peninsula

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