DUBAI:
Government agency Dubai SME and Dubai-based investment firm WOMENA have completed a joint programme to aid entrepreneurship among Emirati women by drawing down venture capital (VC).
The Future Founders and the Future Funders Programme at Zayed University targeted university-level women at the start of their careers.
The two four-week courses aimed to show students how to start a robust and innovative business, and introduced finance students to venture investing, aiming to give them the skills required to work in a VC firm or invest in a start-up.
The programmes culminated in a demo day, in which prospective entrepreneurs pitched their business to the finance students, who evaluated them.
Female founders make up 14 per cent of entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), but only 10 per cent of Emirati entrepreneurs, according to data from UN Women.
Saeed Matar Al Merri, Deputy CEO of Dubai SME, said, “Entrepreneurship has a crucial role in women empowerment and Dubai SME is seeing a remarkable increase in entrepreneurial initiatives from women. To promote entrepreneurial talent and energise entrepreneurship Dubai SME is focusing on bridging gaps, particularly in terms of knowledge and funding.
“Our partnership with WOMENA marks an important step that will enable women entrepreneurs and investors to deploy their resources on successful and sustainable initiatives.”
WOMENA founder Elissa Freiha said the company was “dedicated to empowering women in the Middle East, from investing in female entrepreneurs, to helping the investors themselves. We also understand the importance of sparking excitement and curiosity from a much earlier stage in their professional development.”
Paul Williams, Dean of Zayed University, said: “An entrepreneurial mindset is at the core of our educational mission. Not only do our students develop skills and competencies in entrepreneurship from their academic studies, some of them put it into practice and become successful business owners. In addition, our faculty are actively conducting applied research into entrepreneurship, which is helping the UAE community to implement innovative and creative solutions to real-world small business problems.”
