UAE’s pro-business reforms for women, dynamic work environment, and abundance of thriving female role-models has transformed UAE into a global powerhouse for women to nurture and grow their entrepreneurial passions and pursue their dreams.
Through its latest efforts, the UAE government has pushed further-on with gender equity, filling the traditional gaps in UAE’s socioeconomic structure by sponsoring financial and legal support for women-owned startups and micro-enterprises.
UAE is also encouraging women by involving them in the country’s administrative positions, offering influential leadership roles in the government.
From November 2017, 9 out of the 29 government ministers appointed were women, which accounts for more than 30% of representation. One of the ministers is the talented and bright Shamma bint Suhail Faris al Mazrui, the youngest government minister in the world just at the age of 23.
Various government bodies, funding platforms, and business consultancy firms are actively supporting and training women in becoming future business magnets by offering monetary, advisory and administrative assistance.
The leading organizations include The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Qiyadiyat Leadership Group, The Emirati Entrepreneurs Association, The Women’s Network Group, The International Business Women’s Group Dubai and The Entrepreneur’s Organization UAE. These channels have served as an impetus, enabling women entrepreneurs to cultivate greater business success and practice an enriched personal life in the Emirates.
A great number of women entrepreneurs have already earned and embossed their mark in different entrepreneurial fields, particularly in IT and Real Estate.
One of such aspiring examples is tech entrepreneur Dunia Othman. Othman and her husband are the proud owners of MrUsta.com, a platform that responsively connects skillful maintenance and repair workers with clients in need of their services by sharing work profiles and providing payment metrics. Since its inception in 2014, the startup has generated over AED 1 million and boasts more than 5,000 skilled workers catering 10,000 customers per month. Featured in the Arabian Businesses’s Entrepreneurs of the Week, the duo said,
“The benefits of running your own business and building it from scratch have always excited me. The fast tempo of a start-up founder’s life where no two days are the same as well as being in control, taking risks, putting yourself out there, all these are the things that eased my decision.”
One of UAE’s most successful real-estate ventures, Exclusive Links Real Estate is a model example of gender parity in business management. Its Managing Director and co-founder, Louise Heatley, laid the foundation with a local Emirati woman in 2005. Now, Louise oversees the region’s operations from a team of over 40 resources that gives the property market a force to be reckoned with.
Citing efforts by Dubai Land Department and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Louise summed it up very well, “I’ve never met anyone who regretted moving out here.”
