“I just wanted something more. So I took a risk.” Mrs. Hanan Saab

Muscat, Oman. April 26, 2010. Women in Business Conference 2010. Female enterprise executives and entrepreneurs gathered on a fragrant sunny day at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Oman’s capital city. The topic? Changing the Face of Business – Women as an Economic Force.

One of the most inspiring talks today came from Mrs. Hanan Saab from Beirut Lebanon. She talks of the challenges she overcame creating a pharmaceutical business from scratch amidst the political turmoil of Lebanon in the 80s and 90s, all while raising three children.

Mrs. Saab is a self-described 3rd generation pharmacist. Her grandfather graduated in 1905 from the American University of Beirut…. as did his son…. as did his daughter, our very own Mrs. Saab standing before us in a crowded auditorium filled with aspiring and inspiring Omani business women.

“In 1976 political insurgents burned the our family business.”  The business of three generations of pharmacists who were there to provide aid to their community.

Lebanon is a country with 4 million inhabitants, and 15 million immigrants who live outside the country. In the face of this challenge, Mrs. Saab chose to stand her ground, Lebanese ground, a pattern she unwaveringly continues.  In 1983, she was forced to move 8 times, as bombs and cannons forced her family into underground shelters for protection. She was pregnant with her second daughter while practicing hospital pharmacy during the Civil War. She stood again by her decision to remain in her home country.

“What about our children?” her husband would ask. “I have a duty she says, as a mother, but as a caregiver. Who knows who will need medication at this almost full hospital? What if there is someone I know amongst the casualties?”   She stood by her decision to remain in Lebanon. Shortly after this statement, she recognized one of the bombing victims and treated none other than very her husband’s niece.

An eternal optimist, Mrs. Saab lingers not on the pain, but the personal and professional growth surge these experiences gave her.  “I continued to develop conflict resolution and bettered my communication skills. One day the President of the American University Hospital (AHU) asked me to start a pharmaceutical purchasing department.”. Witnessing all the untreated pain around her (“Go home, we really can’t do anything more for you. It is untreatable.”), she envisioned an opportunity to start a business in pain management and oncology medications. “My goal was to improve patient care with controlled medication.”

Now consider this sequence of challenges Mrs. Saab faced as she tried to get a fledgling business of the ground. Your challenges may not seem as mountainous as compared to this terrain.

Finding partners was difficult. Lebanon was considered high risk due to “recurrent if not ongoing political conflict. No one was coming, so in order for me to create partnerships, I had to travel as people were concerned and afraid to make the investment.”

Connecting with partners was crippled by poor infrastructure. “To get a telephone line in Beirut we had to physically bring in wires from Cyprus.”

High interest rates plagued the dragging economy and made getting a loan challenge. Add this to laws prohibiting her from taking a loan from the bank without permission from her husband. Another law in Lebanon stated that in order to own her company she needs permission of her husband.  In order to travel, she needs permission from her husband. In order to open an account for her own children, she needs permissions from her husband. She got those permissions.  (In 1994 these laws were abolished).

“I was just a pharmacist. To be an entrepreneur there are many other skills you need – finance, human resources.”

Yet she persevered and obtained a license in 1990 and commercialized the company in 1992. 

“I own 90% of my company and my husband owns 10%”.  (At this, the hushed auditorium in Oman suddenly bursts into spontaneous applause).

And what did she decide to take to market as her first product?

Morphine.

“No one wanted to bring this in. Everyone thought I was crazy. ‘You have very good position in AHU, securing the education of children. What more do you want?’”

“I just wanted something more. So I took a risk.”

The risk paid off. “Either the market drives you, or you be proactive,” she paraphrases a quote.  “In 2000, we opened up to other territories in our region – Jordan, then other regions in the Gulf followed. Dubai, Qatar, Egypt… We became the exclusive distributor for 22 companies and a major player in the field of oncology.”

“We have 40 employees and 78% are ladies,” Mrs. Saab announces, her next words nearly lost after thunderous applause from the Omani business ladies. “…and these ladies occupy our highest administrative positions. We give them flexible hours, extended maternity leaves, and a room for nursing – for as long as you want. The health of our babies is number one.”

“We are a small company and at the same time, a well bonded family.”

She concludes, “Even if they say no, try diplomatically to find a way around the obstacle. Never give up. If you fail, make sure to learn. And always, help one another.”

Mrs. Hanan Saab is also the architect behind the Lebanese League of Women in Business (LLWB), and a founding member of the Middle East North African Business Women’s network, whose mission is to “Take the Lead And Succeed”.

Dubai. March 2, 2010. Tech Ed Middle East & Africa. Dubai is hosting the first ever Tech Ed in the Middle East and Africa, one of only 10 cities in the world to host this 17 year old tradition. Today, during the keynote, S.Somasegar, Senior Vice President Developer Tools,  presented the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, Babar Iqbal, with a round trip to Redmond to visit with product managers and executives.  Walid Abu-Hadba, Corporate Vice President of DPE WW, also presented Babar with a new Windows 7 tablet PC. Babar is the highest contributor to ImagineCup through the power of his 80,000 person fan base.

I had an opportunity to ask Babar, along with his older brother, Asif, and asked a few questions about Microsoft and our role in technology for youth and girls.

There’s a lot of technologies out there, you started with Flash. What interests you most about Microsoft technologies?

“Touch. Game development. Windows development. Surface, Windows 7, XBox XNA and .NET 4. I like interface development.  For non Microsoft products I do like UnReal and iPhone development.”

What could Microsoft do with Mobility?

“We should have a portable XBox games to Zune as handheld control.  With Win7 mobile, I compare it to Zune interface. I think Zune interface is simpler and easier to use than the Windows 7 mobile interface. I like the Zune more than Win7 interface. Easier to navigate with Zune and more simple."

I am excited about project Nepal did programming experiments with V-mode, it was very good. I am excited about learning more about project Nepal. “

You received your MCP at age 9. What would tell other 9 year olds about the benefits of being an MCP? What can Microsoft to help attract young developers like yourself?

“Education, technology, programming – these should be fun things to learn. Also there should be more teaching on Games development – fun stuff should be taught. not all the boring stuff. we have IT education, but it is not fun. They teach : Theory theory theory. Instructors should teach fun stuff and easy stuff.”

Until we do that, do you think kids will not be interested?

“When I was working in flash and web development first, it was a hobby at first, and this way, always fun.  I do it because I like to do it. The kids should start with something fun to do.”

There are not a of girls doing what you do, are there? Why do you think that is? What do you think we can tell girls your age to get them interested in technology?

In this region, girls are far more interested in technology than the boys are. Babar’s brother Asif comments that girls are more interested in the graphical elements, like iPhone and gaming development.

More than 60% of Babar’s 80,000  fans of girls – many of these local Emiratis. Geographically dispersed with 2300 in UAE.  You can find Babar’s community at Students-cafe.com –  nearly most of these are university and college students. “People want to work with technology but they don’t know how to do.”

“I do posts and asks them questions what facilities your university provides in IT, posted and gathered ideas on Students-cafe.com.” Babar finds it difficult to manage all these questions all by himself, and asks Microsoft to do something small, in a sustainable way with good quality.

What should be do for the people are local?

Asif remarks “Microsoft needs to get to the level of students. evangelists are talking at too complex levels, need to have students teaching students. Students want someone young like Babar to teach them, especially in this region. When he shows them.  They are comfortable at his level. He’s one of us. Bring one of their own to teach them. Grooming program in Gulf region for people he’s teaching. Some show good promise – 50 people. All they need is incentive.  Build a simple gaming animation app app and get a tour. Led Babar leads 10 people. Small tours Burj Al-Arab. Microsoft Gulf offices. Trips to Redmond. “

Babar cites a lack of resources in schools. “Game development should be taught – 3D modeling. In big university I have visited there are no facilitators for 3d animation, 3d modeling. No classes or  trainings. “

Who are you most interested in meeting when you visit Microsoft?

“Steve Ballmer & Bill Gates. I would like to get involved with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to help children get education.”

For more stories like this, read Sara Ford’s blog

Redmond, Washington. October 27, 2009.   Thousands of mostly female Microsoft employees from all over the world gathered for the 3 day Microsoft Women’s Leadership and Development Conference. One of the many charismatic and talent speakers is Bonnie St. John, who shares with us some tips on how to be a super star.

Bonnie is certainly qualified to deliver this talk, as she is the author of numerous books, a magna cum laude Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar, served as White House Director of the National Economic Council for  President Clinton, and oh yes – she is a Olympic medalist as an amputee.

Bonnie taught herself to program at age 12 and worked for IBM. Her accomplishments are too numerous to mention, so read November’s Oprah’s O magazine, where she most recently featured (page 84). In her talk today,  Achieving Peak Performance, Bonnie offers her special uber tips for being a world class game changer.

Be a helpable person

Bonnie speaks of advice given to her by Ken Kragen, Hollywood’s premier agent who secured the talent for the We are the World event.

Kragen says that  in order to be a superstar, “it’s not about how good your voice is, how hard you work, or your positive attitude. The key characteristic of whether I can take you to superstar status – is how much of a helpable person you are.”  Helpable versus being independent, with the “I can do it on my own” attitude. Not showing weakness.

How to be more helpable? Ask for help!  Send more thank you notes – and rely on more people. Reach out and ask for help. People can’t help you if they don’t know you who you are. In the Linda Babcock – Women Don’t Ask (book), it states some interesting facts. Men initiate negotiations 4x more often than women. Women will avoid asking for a better car deal – women in fact will pay $1300 just to avoid negotiating a car deal. 63% of Saturn buyers were women. Women ask for less and settle for less 30% more often than men.

Vocalize the help you need. To demonstrate this point, Bonnie tosses a blue balloon and into the audience and asks people to bat it around. The room is silent except for the thumping sounds of the balloon being hit randomly across the room. Bonnie intently focuses on the path of the balloon for a long 2 minutes. Suddenly she says “you, with the red shirt, please stand up” . This woman was quite far from the path of the balloon and asks the room if we could hit the balloon to her. The balloon immediately changes course and in moments crosses the 400 people in the room to the woman in red, who stands holding the blue balloon. Bonnie then asks anyone who has touched the balloon on the course to the woman, “please stand up”. There were 8 women in total of 400. “When you ask for help, look how fast something gets done. Everyone was willing to help” . Think of something that you are willing to do to make yourself more helpable. Some examples from our audience:

• “Ask for help”
• “Delegate”

Confidence is a Muscle

· She speaks of ıntervıewıng the Presıdent of Lıberıa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. President Sirleaf speaks of how she took risk after risk in the face of adversary and she said, with each risk she became stronger, and then she took another risk. And then finally she said she got to a place “where fear had no power over me”. Bonnie speaks of how confidence is a muscle. The more you exercise it the stronger you get. Think of one thing that you will do that will build this confidence muscle.

• “Deliver a presentation to my upper management on a topic I don’t know… yet.”
• “Every day write in my journal what I have done to take care of myself that day.”

Balance, Joy and Education

Education is the most important game changer of today.  Wendy Kopp was a game changer by creating a program, Teach for America, which is the equivalent of the peace corp for teaching.  At one point she had said to herself that she had so much to do that she will just sleep every other night. Balance was one thing she had to learn and this was achieved by having a touchstone “Stop and think. What is it that brings you joy?”  Ask yourself “What is that thing that gives you joy? Now make time for it”. Some of the audience answers were:

• “My niece”
• “Buying a new book”
• “My dog”

With these tips, or “gifts” as Bonnie calls them, you can take your top performance capabilities and rocket them into super stardom.

In this profile, we will meet Dr. Marina Bers, an associate professor at Tufts both in Computer Science and Child Development Departments at Tufts University. She is also a scientific research associate at Boston Children's Hospital. We will learn about how the work she does helps reverse the trend of a decline in female technologists.

This is one profile of many in the Who’s Who in Women in Technology (WiT). The profiles will range from young generations to old, from academic to corporate, from non-for-profit to entrepreneurs – all with one thing in common – they are role models and people who make a positive influence to inspiring girls and women to pursue STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) related disciplines and industries.

During the WomenBuildtour last year, we asked men and women across the US: what can large software companies like Microsoft do to help inspire girls and women to become scientists and engineers? We heard many things, one of which was a lack of role models in the STEM disciplines. This series hopes surface the men and women who are making a difference with WiT.

Meet Dr. Marina Bers

In June 2009 I delivered a talk on WomenBuild at a LEGO Symposium at Tufts University, and had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Marina Bers and learn about her WiT (Women In Technology) aligned programs. Dr. Bers directs the Developmental technologies (http://ase.tufts.edu/devtech/) group, working within doctoral students who in turn work young children to teach them computer science concepts at an early age.  

In 2005, Bers was invited to the White House in Washington DC to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers(PECASE), the highest honor given by the U.S. government to outstanding investigators at the early stages of their careers.  Truly, she is the ultimate role model for aspiring female scientists and technologists.

We spoke of the user of LEGO and bricks as learning tools to build tangible programming concepts skills, especially for young females.    She gave me a tour of her research lab, which was comprised of models built in the physical space, which represented the models that we build in the computer science space.

Software design and architecture is sometimes hard to visualize or imagine. If you aren’t a developer, can you picture an object model? Probably not.  With the teachings of Dr. Bers, hopefully this will change and people can visualize object models, just like they can visualize the double helix of DNA.  Dr. Bers makes modeling accessible by using physical componentized tools, such as LEGO bricks to allow children to touch, imagine and build.  The skills they learn here are exactly the skills they will need for a career in software development or engineering.

Why is she a Women in Technology influential?

Dr. Bers focuses on teaching young children programming concepts using tools and toys that are comfortable and familiar to children. She has developed a programs called Tangible Kindergarten, that enables children to learn programming concepts, such as sequencing, by using wooden blocks marked with LEGO Mindstorm-esque visual symbols that cue for movement by a sensor. If you look at the blocks, this is exactly the model for teaching sequential instructional programming.

Unifying the Physical & Virtual Worlds for Learning

Consider a bit of pseudo code that maps to these blocks:

The simple instructions given on the block map respectively to BASIC and .NET code. For example, Begin is analogous to the CLS command in DOS or BASIC, which means Clear Screen.  In ASP.NET, every web page is created with a Page_Init event, just like the simple Begin. In fact each of these commands in the blocks completely relate to object oriented concepts!

1. Begin  CLS / Clear Screen / Page_Init / Initialize
2. Shake Fire Event (Shake )
3. Music BEEP / myMultiMedia.Start / myMusic.Play
4. Forward  GOTO / Call MySubRoutine / result = MyFunction

There is a synergy between her programming learning mechanisms to help children learn .NET as a potential development platform. These concepts certainly can go beyond professors teachers and can be easily introduced as learning tools for parents in professional world. Dr. Bers has also been an avid proponent of the virtual world community (from way back in 1997 during the ActiveWorld era), again yet another way Dr. Bers is combining the virtual world with the physical. 

So what does this mean for you?

I spent some time in my office (ahem) to read Dr. Ber’s book and there is something in it for both teacher, parent as well as professionals interested in developing new talent.  If you personally know of any children, especially females, who have a proclivity towards STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) disciplines, programs such as Dr. Bers can hep develop those innate talents into skills that the child can use in the professional world. LEGO products, such as WeDo and Mindstorms, can help facilitate those learnings in a fun way.  Read Dr. Ber’s book, Block to Robots to learn more about how you can work with your local faculty or even teach a a parent, to help bring technology concepts to early childhood in a fun, engaging and interactive way. 

And for those of you who are looking to study or pursue a career in STEM, know that there are people like Dr.Bers who combine imagination and science, to make a difference in the world. You can too!

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