Rima Kotaiche El-Husseini is the founder of The Blessing Foundation, an organization that aims to empower women in business, with a vision to expand from Lebanon to other countries in the Middle East.

After being selected to the mentoring program by Vital Voices, Fortune 500 and the U.S. State Department, and after having been mentored by Nielsen vice-Chair Susan Whiting, she was determined to bring the concept of mentoring to Lebanon.

Mrs. El-Husseini created the Blessing Foundation in 2012, with  the conviction that when women work, communities thrive. The foundation’s mission is to empower women in business by helping them start,  sustain, evolve, and scale. Since its inception, the Blessing Foundation has been able to build a large network of women in business in Lebanon, and has created more than 120 mentoring relationships that have led to the creation of new businesses and jobs. The newly developed online platform shopTBFonline.com enables women in business to have access to markets and sell their products online.

In 2015, Mrs. El-Husseini won the International Alliance for Women’s “World of Difference” award. She is a member of the Fortune 500 Most Powerful Women Summit, and a member of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network. On July 2016, Rima won by election the Evelyn Bustros Award for The Most Impactful Lebanese Woman for 2016. In August, she was announced as the  winner the 2016 Goldman Sachs &Fortune Global Women Leaders Award. In 2017, El-Husseini was awarded the Woman    of the Year in Social Entrepreneurship by UNIDO.              

Mrs. El-Husseini graduated from the American  University of Beirut with a Master’s Degree in Money, Banking  & Finance. After working in the finance sector for five years she co-founded Blessing, a company specializing in luxury chocolates and gifts, and is now the company’s CEO.

From its Headquarters in Lebanon the Blessing brand has expanded into the Middle Eastern market with a total 9 branches in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman.