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Dubai / WAM
Dubai SME and WOMENA have launched the ‘Future Founders and Future Funders Programme’, aimed to draw on venture capital (VC), as an enabler of entrepreneurship among Emirati women.
The programme targets university-level Emirati women who are at the start of their careers, to develop a strong pipeline of investors and entrepreneurs. As part of the MENA’s angel investing and entrepreneurial community, WOMENA believes that Emirati women have an important role to play as entrepreneurs and investors.
A 2017 Crunchbase report shows that only seven percent of decision-makers at US VC firms are women. According to ArabNet, female founders make up 14 percent of MENA entrepreneurs, while UN Women has reported that 10 percent of Emirati entrepreneurs.
The programme was launched at the Women’s College in Zayed University, Dubai, and targeted women who were considering a career in finance or were interested in entrepreneurship. Over four weeks, the course ran two tracks; ‘Future Founders’ focused on enabling students to create a robust and innovative business. ‘Future Funders’ introduced finance students to venture investing, and enabled them to gain the skills needed to invest in startups or work with a VC firm.
Speaking on the occasion, Saeed Matar Al Marri, 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.”
Paul Williams, Dean of Zayed University, said, “An entrepreneurial mind-set 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.”
Elissa Freiha, founder of WOMENA, said, “WOMENA is 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. In Zayed University students, we see the future of entrepreneurship, and this future is female! We look forward to continuing to work with these young women as they become successful investors and entrepreneurs.”