Zeinab Al-Momani

Zeinab grew up in the small village of Sakhra in the Ajloun governorate in Jordan. Growing up, she was especially active in scouts and ranked first in a number of sports at the governorate and national levels. Although she wanted to go to university, Zeinab was already married at 19 with little money and a child. A very practical problem solver, Zeinab knew as a young mother that she could not further her studies unless her child was cared for, so she started a nursery school in her town. To staff the nursery she distributed fliers and had an unexpectedly huge response. After realizing that massive numbers of women wanted to work, the nursery grew into a kindergarten and then into a school. After the school could not provide for any more employment opportunities, Zeinab wanted to continue to fight poverty by reducing unemployment in more effective ways. To do this, she established the first Women’s Agricultural Cooperative and the first Female Farmers union in the Arab world. In 2008, Zeinab’s endeavors were recognized as she was named both a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and Synergos Leader. Earlier, her school’s success was recognized with the King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein Award for Self-Employment and Leadership.