Cherie Blair's charity for women seeks ties with regional telecom companies

A charity founded by Cherie Blair, wife of the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is seeking partnerships with regional telecommunications companies to help boost employment of women.

The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has already partnered with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), with which it released a report on employment opportunities for women in the mobile sector.

The study, 'Women Entrepreneurs in Mobile Retail Channels', examined the gender balance of mobile businesses in 11 markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, including Qatar and Bahrain in the Gulf region.

It found that the majority of participants in mobile-phone related industries in the Middle East are male.

Mrs Blair said that the foundation aims to encourage the employment of women at telecoms operators, and support women entrepreneurs in mobile-related businesses.

A previous report produced in conjunction with the Cherie Blair Foundation found that globally, 300 million fewer women have access to mobile phone services compared to men. If this number was brought on par, it would represent an additional revenue stream of $13 billion, the report found.

The charity is now looking for partnerships with telecoms companies in the region to encourage job opportunities for women, said Henriette Kolb, the head of the Cherie Blair Foundation.

"We want to partner with at least two leading mobile operators to design and implement a well thought-through women's initiative which targets what we have seen in this report, and actually design a programme which allows women to progress in the retail chain," said Ms Kolb at a conference in Dubai.