LocationsWithout Her? Forget it!
September 25, 2026
The women building businesses, shaping communities and making rights real in Lebanon
They were underestimated. Told to step back. Faced systems that made moving forward harder.
They kept going.
For International Women’s Day 2026, under the theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls,” UNDP Lebanon’s campaign tells the stories of six women who chose to act — building businesses, returning to work, leading in their fields, bringing communities together and helping others claim their rights.
Their barriers are different: economic uncertainty, complicated procedures, dismissive attitudes and social pressure. What connects them is agency — the decision to keep building, learning, organizing and leading.
The campaign’s Arabic slogan, “بلاها” (Baleha), captures that idea in one word. It can mean “forget it” or “don’t bother” - but it can also be read as “بلا + ها”: “without her.”
The answer is simple: without her? Forget it. And when she is told to forget it, she acts anyway.
She kept building when growth felt out of reach
Name: Jana El Fahl
Profession: Founder of Whisktaker
Region: Beirut
Barrier: Economic uncertainty and limited support to grow.
Jana launched Whisktaker in 2020, as Lebanon’s economic collapse turned plans for growth into a struggle to keep going. Unstable cash flow, energy costs and risks around imported ingredients made every decision harder. Interest from new markets existed, but reaching them required stronger systems and new expertise. “The fear wasn’t failure — it was being stuck with potential I couldn’t unlock,” she says.
She kept investing in the business and looking for ways to grow it. With support from UNDP and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), funded by the Government of Canada, she strengthened food-safety systems, refined pricing and expanded into more than ten points of sale. “I moved from doubting to believing, and from reacting to planning.”
They underestimated her. She made it official.
Name: Asma Mustafa
Profession: Entrepreneur leading Dairy Akkar
Region: Akkar
Barrier: Registration hurdles and being underestimated.
Asma established Dairy Akkar in 2020, producing yogurt, labneh, cheeses and other dairy products. As she worked to grow the business, she faced a registration process that was difficult to navigate, while people around her underestimated what she could achieve.
She persisted. Alongside managing production and developing the business, Asma navigated the administrative requirements and secured its formal registration with the Ministry of Finance. She continued looking for ways to improve and expand Dairy Akkar.
Through a UNDP project, funded by the Government of Germany through KfW Development Bank, she received food-safety and marketing coaching and equipment for cheese production and labneh filling. Now planning to add mozzarella and ayran, Asma continues to develop the enterprise she built — turning persistence into concrete plans for growth.
A career break did not end her ambition
Name: Farah R. El Jam Makkouk
Profession: Architect and environmental and water resources engineer; founder of ScaleToFit
Region: Tripoli
Barrier: Returning to work with limited resources.
After a decade raising her children, Farah struggled to find a place for her expertise in the job market. She lacked startup funding and business knowledge, while the pace of artificial intelligence added to her doubts. Two prospective developers stepped back from her idea, finding the combination of architecture and AI too complex.
Farah continued developing the idea herself. She created ScaleToFit, a thermal-imaging and AI solution to detect heat loss in buildings, and sought out a technical collaborator who could help develop the technology. Through the Energy Innovation Lab, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP with Nucleus Venture, she further developed her business approach through mentorship. A successful private field test followed. Still validating the technology ahead of commercial launch, she is turning her return to work into a venture of her own.
They dismissed her questions. Now she leads.
Name: Rania Moussa
Profession: HVAC Service and Maintenance Supervisor
Region: Beirut
Barrier: Doubts about her technical abilities.
When Rania asked technical questions at an engineering firm, some colleagues told her to pass clients directly to them instead. Later, as the only woman on some project sites, she found that workers did not take her seriously. “The hardest part was not being taken seriously,” she says.
She kept asking, studying and visiting sites, taking on more responsibility as her expertise grew. Over 24 years, she built the knowledge to supervise technicians and troubleshoot complex systems. In 2025, she chose to continue strengthening her technical skills through refrigeration and air-conditioning training under UNDP’s Ozone Projects, supported by the Multilateral Fund. Her response to being underestimated was to keep learning and take the lead.
They questioned the point. She brought people together.
Name: Ikbal Haddad
Profession: Member of the Moltaqa Kfarmatta local committee
Region: Kfarmatta, Mount Lebanon
Barrier: Family pressure and community resistance.
Ikbal’s family urged her to step back from community work, questioning what the meetings would achieve. In Kfarmatta, residents also doubted that Christian and Druze neighbours would work together after decades of separation. Balancing a full-time job, home responsibilities and committee work made continuing a daily choice.
She kept showing up. She joined Moltaqa Kfarmatta and, through a UNDP local development process funded by the Government of Germany through KfW Development Bank, further developed her dialogue and planning skills. She contacted families for a hiking day where former classmates reconnected, then helped organize an exhibition that became annual. Her family began attending events and expressing pride. Progress came through the choices she and other committee members made to keep bringing people together.
When pressure silences women, she helps them act
Name: Ghinwa Diab
Profession: Trainee lawyer at the Legal Aid Helpdesk of the South
Region: South Lebanon
Barrier: Cost, complex procedures and social pressure.
Ghinwa sees the barriers women and girls face when seeking justice: the cost of a lawyer, unfamiliar procedures and social pressure to remain silent about violence or family disputes. Fear and pressure to withdraw can prevent them from pursuing their rights.
At the Legal Aid Helpdesk of the South, supported by UNDP with funding from the Government of Canada, Ghinwa uses her legal knowledge to help women understand their options and take action. When two girls sought help to avoid forced marriage, she submitted a protection request. Protection was granted and custody returned to their mother. Her action helped prevent the marriages — showing how women can also use their skills and positions to help other women and girls exercise their rights.
When Women Act, Rights Become Real
Rights become real when women can exercise them — in their businesses, professions, communities and everyday lives.
These six women are already doing exactly that, alongside many more women we meet through our work across Lebanon.
“With the support of our donors and partners, UNDP stands alongside women to challenge barriers, expand opportunities and strengthen the conditions for their choices, ideas and leadership to go further.”
Without her? Forget it.
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