Wided Bouchamaoui, also transcribed Ouided Bouchamaoui, ( ar, وداد بوشماوي; born 1961) is a Tunisian businesswoman who since 2011 has been leader of the

Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts ar, الاتحاد التونسي للصناعة والتجارة والصناعات التقليدية , native_name_lang = , named_after = , image = Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts logo.gif ...

(UTICA). As leader of the organization she took from 2013 part in

Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (Arabic: الرباعي التونسي للحوار الوطني‎, French: ''Quartet du dialogue national'') is a group of four civil society organizations that were central mediators in the effort to conso ...

which led the latter organization to receive the

2015 Nobel Peace Prize The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (founded in 2013) for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011". The National ...

. The French news magazine ''

Jeune Afrique ''Jeune Afrique'' (English: ''Young Africa'') is a French-language pan-African weekly news magazine, founded in 1960 in Tunis and subsequently published in Paris. It is the most widely read pan-African magazine. It is also a book publisher, unde ...

'' has identified her as one of the Top 25 Business Women in Africa. In 2014 she won the Oslo Business for Peace Award for her work in UTICA.

Career

Bouchamaoui was born into a wealthy business family. Her grandfather, Ahmed, started a civil engineering company. Her father took over part of the firm and made it into Hédi Bouchamaoui & Sons which specialized in oil, textile and other industry. After having obtained a DESS degree in international trade and marketing, Wided worked for a period in her father's firm before starting her own firm with about 200 employees, specializing in cotton.Frida Dahmani (28 May 2012
Tunisie : Wided Bouchamaoui, forcément candidate

Archive
Following the

Tunisian revolution The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El ...

in 2011, she became leader of the

(UTICA), an employers union. In September 2013 she, as leader of the organization, co-formed the

, whose aim was to secure a transition to democracy. The group included Wided Bouchamaoui as President of UTICA,

Houcine Abassi Houcine Abassi ( ar, حسين العباسي; born 19 August 1947), is a Tunisian unionist. Biography He was the Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) since 2011.

as the Secretary General of the

Tunisian General Labour Union The Tunisian General Labour Union (french: Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail, ''UGTT''. ar, الاتحاد العام التونسي للشغل) is a national trade union center in Tunisia. It has a membership of more than one million and wa ...

(UGTT), Abdessattar ben Moussa as the President of the

Tunisian Human Rights League french: Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'homme , native_name_lang = , named_after = , image = Tunisian Human Rights League logo.png , image_size = , alt = Logo of the Tunisian Human Rights Le ...

(LTDH), and Mohamed Fadhel Mahmoud as the president of the

Tunisian Order of Lawyers french: Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie , native_name_lang = , named_after = , image = Tunisian Order of Lawyers logo.png , image_size = , alt = Logo of the Tunisian Order of Lawyers , ...

. The group was disestablished in December 2014 after the

2014 Tunisian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Tunisia on 26 October 2014. Campaigning started on 4 October 2014. They were the first free regular legislative elections since independence in 1956, and the first elections held following the adoption of the n ...

took place in October.Hoda Saliby (16 October 2015
Wided Bouchamaoui : “L’expérience tunisienne est unique”

Courrier International ''Courrier International'' ( French for "International Mail") is a Paris-based French weekly newspaper which translates and publishes excerpts of articles from over 900 international newspapers. It also has a Portuguese and a Japanese edition. '' ...

The Quartet was awarded the

"for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011". Along with other leaders of the Quartet, Houcine Abassi, Mohammed Fadhel Mafoudh and Abdessatar Ben Moussa, Bouchamaoui traveled to Oslo to collect the Nobel Prize on December 10, 2015. Bouchamaoui emphasized the collaborative nature of the group's activities, and the importance of encouraging people: "We are here to give hope to young people in Tunisia, that if we believe in our country, we can succeed." The committee's decision has been described as "rewarding hope rather than a finished product".

Personal life

She has two sons.

Awards

* Nobel Peace Prize 2015 * G8 Deauville Partnership Women in Business Award (2013)Mounia El-Arfaoui (28 August 2013
Iron Lady of Tunisia
Correspondents.Org * Oslo Business for Peace Award (2014) * Golden Aegis of the Arab Organization of Civil Liberty (2015) * Grand Officer of the Order of the Republic of Tunisia (2015) * Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(2015) * Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Award (2016) *

Honorary Degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from

Paris Dauphine University Paris Dauphine University - PSL (french: Université Paris-Dauphine, also known as Paris Dauphine - PSL or Dauphine - PSL) is a public research university based in Paris, France. It is one of the 13 universities formed by the division of the ancie ...

(2017) * International Award of Excellence "Farmasi" (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchamaoi, Wided 1961 births Living people 21st-century Tunisian businesspeople People of the Arab Spring