How One Woman Entrepreneur Is Breaking Pakistan's 'Cement Ceiling'

In 1984, Nora Frenkiel coined the term glass ceiling: "Women have reached a certain point — I call it the glass ceiling. They're in the top of middle management and they're stopping and getting stuck."

"The glass ceiling is the ability to visualize getting to the top but not reaching there. In Pakistan for female entrepreneurs, you can neither see what it looks like nor aspire to be something you cannot imagine," Maria Umar says. "It’s more of a cement ceiling here in our case in Pakistan."

Umar is challenging the cement ceiling as an international entrepreneur and a key player in . She is revered as one of the trailblazers in the female entrepreneurial revolution, and focuses her efforts on furthering work opportunities for women in Pakistan.