Sudanese Women’s Entrepreneurship in Cairo and Riyadh, with Abrar Mohamed and Mariam Magdy (Cairo, Oct. 7 2026)

Recent graduates of Cairo University’s Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Abrar Mohamed and Mariam Magdy examine how Sudanese women displaced by conflict navigate economic, social, and legal constraints through entrepreneurship in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

This presentation draws on our graduation thesis, “Between Survival and Agency: Sudanese Businesswomen Navigating Displacement and Entrepreneurship in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.” Based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Al-Rehab (Cairo) and Riyadh, the study examines how Sudanese women displaced by conflict have built entrepreneurial ventures across these two contexts. Using transnational feminist theory, intersectionality, and the concept of symbolic violence as analytical frameworks, we explore how displacement, gender, and mobility shape economic agency. The presentation highlights how these women navigate legal, social, and economic constraints in host countries, turning precarious circumstances into spaces of survival and self-determination. It also reflects on our own positionality and reflexivity as researchers engaging with displaced communities, and situates individual entrepreneurial journeys within broader debates on migration, gender, and informal economies in the region.

Abrar Mohamed and Mariam Magdy are recent graduates of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University (English Section). Their graduation thesis on Sudanese displaced businesswomen in Egypt and Saudi Arabia was supervised by Dr. Abeer Rabei (University of Cairo) and peer-reviewed by Sizwe Mkwanazi (University of Johannesburg). 

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· Date: Wednesday 7th of October, 2026
· Time: 2 pm – 4 pm (Cairo Time)
· Location: CEDEJ, 23 Gamal Al Din Abou Al Mahasen, Qasr El Nil, Cairo, Egypt + visioconference
· Conditions: Free admission. No registration required. To receive the webinar connection details, please contact us at: contact@cedejkhartoum.fr

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