On August 1, 2024, over a coffee, kingkong met up with Leïla Maidane, the founder of ‘Femmes Fières’ (Proud Women). This digital hub was established to offer creative women entrepreneurs an accessible environment where they can acquire the necessary skills to launch their companies and prosper in a constantly evolving world.

We turn up at a Brussels café, from where the views of the quays just about bring to mind holidays spent in Copenhagen. We push open the glass door and, on our left, catch sight of a big smile and a unique style. There was clearly no better way to begin the month of August than by meeting Leïla Maidane. This entrepreneur, a strategy and innovation enthusiast, set up Femmes Fières, an organisation which supports the development of businesses started by badass women. ‘We aid them to upscale their entrepreneurial and digital skills, precisely so that they may obtain a better method, a better structure and a better knowledge of the tools required. They thus become more autonomous, more confident, more and more independent economically. And they also become part of a network and become examples for others who would also like to get their businesses underway.’

Berber carpet and waffle irons 

It all began in 2017 in Morocco with a babe-in-arms which was as good as foisted on Leïla. There she met masses of women with multiple talents but who lack the necessary skills to kickstart their businesses. And therefore to potentially transform what they know how to do with their hands into a viable business which could fund the studies of children or the healthcare of the more elderly. ‘We met women who made carpets, were involved in beekeeping, produced art. They said to us, “we go to the market once a week, but we are not really sure about what price to ask.” So, in the end, we decided that we would teach them how to draw up an inventory, calculate the sales price, the production costs, the margin, etc. Whilst being aware that the majority don’t know how to write or read. We therefore developed a partnership with the locally established women’s entrepreneurship organisation, “Min Ajliki”, and with tutors to talk in the specific dialect and to translate our training programmes. We began to sell the honey in northern Morocco and the Berber carpets in Belgium. When COVID hit they demonstrated tremendous agility in developing a business hiring out equipment for weddings, with tents, seats, etc. They always come up with lots of ideas. It’s going really well!’

100% practical, no bullshit 

In 2019, she returned to implement the project around these parts. Today, ‘Femmes Fières’ is thus tailored to women who already have a project or an activity. ‘Initially, we were more involved with people who were creating a business, women who were really at the very beginnings of their project. In 2024 we realised that it is not with this type of public that we have the most impact. We provide support for women for whom something has already clicked. Whether or not you have official business status, we don’t care. But in any event you have already turned the corner, you want to take it to the next level, and we can offer help with the digital world and the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.’

It is only to those who do nothing that nothing happens.

With Leïla, all it takes is ten minutes in her company to grasp that she is part of the badass team which loves concrete projects. ‘Femmes Fières’ is first and foremost about practice! Its motto: ‘It is only to those who do nothing that nothing happens.’ Which means to say that the services provided by ‘Femmes Fières’ are thus very coherent: ‘in the first place, we run training programmes. There is a 12 week online bootcamp which can be taken in complete independence (EntrepenHER). We thus cover all the areas of business in 12 modules and provide them with all the tools necessary for their businesses. There is also a community linked to this bootcamp. It’s a WhatsApp group on which they can have discussions, meet one another, move forward together and ask each other questions. Then, for those who have received their first revenues and wish to expand, we offer shorter and more specific training courses such as using ChatGPT to write their job offers, their communication on the social networks, learn how to pitch, etc. And then we have a listing of training courses we can provide or adapt to already existing courses. Technocité and Art&Public have asked us to create training modules on the subject of business creation closely related to their public.’ 

Female badasses as examples 

Each event, each sub-project, each training course run by Femmes Fières involves the acquisition of hyper tangible skills (hard or soft). This represents a clear and unapologetic wish on the part of Leïla to valorise women and to make them proud. To mention just one example, on March 8, 2024, Femmes Fières held its ‘Pitches and Cream’ party – we absolutely looove the title. This day entirely dedicated to the art of the pitch was structured around three moments: a workshop to discover the fundamentals of the pitch, a workshop to obtain a good grasp of non-verbal communication and, finally, a pitch party to test the skills acquired at the workshops. ‘What we are aiming for is to be able to get them to enhance their people-centred skills, in addition to their basic digital and entrepreneurial skills. They will therefore gain assertiveness, express themselves better in public spaces and therefore boost the messages of investing in oneself.’

Femmes Fières considers itself an engaged project: women entrepreneurs, with very different professional and personal backgrounds, become mentors for those who are getting started. And so on and so on. The snowball effect is to a degree in evidence here: the badasses supported by Femmes Fières themselves become examples for those who follow. ‘Fierté’ (pride), a term which has negative connotations in our French language (the character of someone who believes themselves superior to others; disdain, arrogance, haughtiness – ugh!) here takes on another dimension: it is linked to the recognition of women, in their values, their personality traits, their achievements. To take up their position in society and on the employment market, they must develop a self-esteem and a legitimacy in their project and their expertise.

Accessible to all

Any woman who wishes to create a viable business should be able to do so. It is for this reason that Femmes Fières first of all aims to increase the economic mobility of women by means of technology, secondly, to promote social mobility via entrepreneurship and the creation of your own employment and, finally, to support improved inclusion in the tech and digital domain which is still today gendered ‘male’. ‘What we have noticed with our experience is that women launch businesses out of passion because they have something which they absolutely love doing. But they do not know how to gain revenues which arise from their hobbies. Which is somewhat the opposite of the male approach, with men wanting to make money. Us, women, we do something which is very dear to us but we do not know how to transform this activity into a viable business. And that is where we intervene. We aid them with the necessary tools and the strategy to emancipate themselves, and not do voluntary work until the end of their days. I have met so many women who are doing free, unpaid work. They do not know how to ask, how much to ask for, and even if they are justified in asking for a small sum in return. This scenario is starting to get ridiculous.’

The next key dates for Femmes Fières are October 10, at Technocité for a training programmed focused on AI, October 12 at the Bounce Back Festival and, finally, in November (date to be confirmed), on the jury of the pitch competition for the participants of GirlsConnect. 

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