For over 15 years, Essma Ben Hamida travelled extensively as a journalist and UN consultant, specializing in political, humanitarian and development issues. Frustrated with the slow pace of development despite innumerable UN resolutions and development projects, Essma returned to Tunisia in 1990 and co-founded the NGO Enda with her late husband, Michael Cracknell to contribute to the country's development and financial and economic inclusion. Enda Tamweel is the largest and pioneer microfinance institution in Tunisia serving around 500 000 active clients, 60% women from 109 branches all over the country. Over the past 30 years, Enda reached out to 1,300 million Tunisian among the poorest segments. Today Essma is member of the board of Enda Tamweel and chairperson of the NGO enda inter-arabe which offers non financial services including business training and coaching, financial education, support to marketing, diverse cultural and social activities in the most disadvantaged urban and rural areas of Tunisia. Enda launched a payment company to contribute to the digital inclusion of the low income population and is working now on an Academy for entrepreneurship to disseminate the entrepreneurial culture among youth and help in the creation of more jobs for the 700 000 unemployed in Tunisia.
Essma received several awards including the distinction of “Outstanding Social Entrepreneur in the Middle East and North Africa” by the prestigious Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum (Marrakech October 2010) and an award from the Lebaneese NGO, Takreem as the "Outstanding Arab Woman" of the year 2019.