Dawoodi Bohra women organize Business Expo in Chicago area

The Women's Expo was held this weekend under the auspices of the Dawoodi Bohra Community with more than 60 booths in Al-Masjid-al-Badri in Willowbrook. Where entrepreneurs network with more than 5000 attendees over the course of two days. Women Entrepreneurs Expo - called "Mashtal" at the Al-Masjid-al-Badri Complex on Saturday, September 10 and Sunday, September 11, 2022. The expo is hosted by Burhani Women's Association Chicago and Taalebaat ul Mumenaat.

The goal was to serve as a platform for women-owned businesses & women professionals. The event was a huge success including a business expo, job fair, motivational speakers, high-level public officials, youth forum & more. Over 60 women-owned businesses were present including a wide range of businesses such as clothes, jewelry, home products, professional services & women’s organizations. Even the mostly food vendors at the event were women-owned services.

The word “Mashtal” means nursery. The expo showed a large number of nurtures the business ventures of Dawoodi Bohra women, enabling them to use their talents and skills to develop small-scale businesses. The word “Bohra” means traders, and Mashtal taps into this deep-seated tradition.

The Expo allowed attendees to connect, collaborate, and create with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and small businesses under one location. Members of the public had experienced a wide range of vendors of clothes, beauty products, jewelry designers and home décor, as well as realtors and travel agents. Most of the women-owned businesses at the expo are operated by members of the USA community of Dawoodi Bohras, but women-owned businesses from India, Pakistan, Dubai, Canada also attended the event.

At the expo, had several through awareness sessions, experts discussed the women problems faced by the many sectors and their solutions as well as bring innovation in the mainstream sector.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Chodri Khokhar, Mayor of Glendale Heights, Karen Yarbrough, Cook County Clerk, Bob Berlin, Du Page County State Attorney, James Mendrick, Du Page County Sheriff, Greg Hart, Du Page County Board Member, Dr. Suresh Reddy Trustee Oak Brook, Michele Bauman, Avon Township Supervisor attended the opening ceremony.

More than 5000 people participated in the two-day Expo. Due to the huge discount on local products, people bought to their heart's content. Organizers of the exhibition Shirin Marvi said that due to the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, economic activities had been frozen, so organizing the exhibition while maintaining social distance was a challenge. All the stakeholders and especially the public are grateful for the promotion and development of the various industries.

Chicago land community associated with the Expo have termed it very welcome and said that we were waiting for this event very anxiously, it is a Business-friendly initiative of the Dawoodi Bohra community. This is a great event, and such events should be held from time to time.