And She Really Means Business.

TUNIS, Tunisia—Arab women no longer fit all the stereotypes you’ve heard about the Southern Mediterranean/North African region—especially this one—a 32-year-old dynamo who is determined, smart, worldly wise and unwilling to take “no” for an answer.

Rym Bedoui is managing director of Agora International and its U.S. subsidiary, Sultan’s Finest Food, and she represents the new face of business throughout many of the once male-dominated regions that encompass the Mediterranean Sea. She has visited 25 countries, speaks five languages, and is committed to developing more opportunities for Arab women everywhere.

Rym is the daughter of parents who demonstrated to her at an early age, that anything was possible. Her father, Ezzeddine Bedoui, served around the globe as a career diplomat for the Tunisian government, and her mother, Aziza, earned an accounting degree in the 1960s—when most Arab women weren’t even permitted to attend school—then used that education as an accountant with British Petroleum in Tunisia. Rym was raised in a rich cultural environment that nurtured dreams, and was dedicated to destroying the barriers to achieving them. Being raised in diplomatic circles introduced her to many different nationalities and cultures, and opened her eyes to the opportunities present around the world; opportunities that have driven her ever since.

“My parents have always been incredibly supportive to me in all facets of my life,” say Ms. Bedoui. “I grew up in the company of many powerful, influential people—so I’m not easily intimidated. My parents instilled in me the idea that anything is possible if I’m willing to work hard enough and keep my dream in focus.”

While the family was stationed in the United States where her father worked with the Tunisian mission in New York and Cuba, Rym was educated and trained in Canada and the United States, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Université Laval (Canada). She then went on to earn an MBA in International Business from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, in Manhattan, NY.

Ms. Bedoui then earned real world practical knowledge in New York City’s unforgiving advertising and PR world, on an account team managing communications and public relations activities for healthcare giants like Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Meyers-Squibb, and the American Red Cross.

In 1999, Ms. Bedoui returned to her native Tunisia and began her consulting business, Bedoui & Co. Consulting, in Tunis. Bedoui & Co. immediately entered the realm of international business development by representing programs of the Business Development office of the U.S. Agency for International Development: Global Trade and Technology Network and the International Executive Service Corps. But the always-present dream was to create her own international trading company that would bring the tastes and decorative arts of her homeland to the world she experienced growing up.

Agora International—Ms. Bedoui’s trading company—began operating in 2004. The first opportunity was in the food industry, taking halva to the world. The launch of Sultan’s Finest Halva, her ‘baby,’—a traditional ethnic confection made from ground sesame seeds—is well underway in Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, and Kuwait. The United States market is ready to receive its first shipments and has a distribution network already in place.

When she is not absorbed by her passion for business, she frequently can be found helping the next generation realize their dreams. Rym volunteers her time to coach and mentor youthful entrepreneurs.

“I received so much support from those around me,” she says, “that I feel obliged to share my good fortune with young people. I want to help them make their dreams come true, too.”

Ms. Bedoui is also active in promoting the economic development opportunities, and serves as an executive board member with the Tunisian/American Chamber of Commerce and is active with the Institute of Arab Leaders.

Does Rym Bedoui really mean business? Bet on it.

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