Twenty-five thousand Emirati women entrepreneurs owned 50,000 businesses valued at Dh60 billion last year, a report has found.
The latest figures released by Nama Women Advancement, a Sharjah-based establishment contributing to inclusion and closing the gender gap, said the number of women entrepreneurs across the country has been rising.
In only 11 years the value of businesses owned by women has increased five-fold.
The data shows in 2019 there were 23,000 Emirati women running businesses worth Dh50 billion compared with 2010 when 11,000 owned businesses worth Dh12 billion.
Titled 'Women-Owned Businesses in the United Arab Emirates: A Golden Opportunity', the report was published by Nama Women Advancement in partnership with UN Women's Empowerment Section.
Strong business ecosystem
The report sheds light on the realities and prospects of Emirati women's contributions to the UAE’s development, improving the sustainability of various sectors and diversifying sources of national income.
It says gender parity has improved after a series of legal, policy and institutional measures were introduced in the past decade. Access to finance was also made easier.
The report said the UAE was ranked top in the world in the 2021/2022 Global Entrepreneurship Mentorship report in terms of countries that allow for better ease of doing business.
Businesswomen councils in the country were the main drivers for national legislation encouraging women’s participation in entrepreneurship through microbusinesses.
The report stressed that significant women-focused initiatives for SMEs and home-based activities gave access to thousands of female entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses.
Rise in the number of female-owned businesses
A survey of 1,000 Emirati businesswomen was also carried out, with the findings included in the report.
It says 77.6 per cent of women-owned businesses (WOB) in the UAE are led by those under 40.
More than 48 per cent are chief executives and 61.4 per cent sole proprietors, a clear indicator that Emirati entrepreneurs, particularly young women, are making significant contributions to the GDP in emerging economic sectors.
The report also says 13 per cent are co-owners with more than 51 per cent of shares, and 25 per cent are business leaders with fewer than 51 per cent of shares, while 72 per cent of WOBs are microenterprises, 24 per cent are small enterprises and 3 per cent are medium enterprises.
What women entrepreneurs want
The survey showed that respondents were confident in their growth plans, and expressed the importance of securing financing sources.
They said it was important to engage women in organisations that provide comprehensive support for entrepreneurs through networking, training and advisory services, the report found.
They also expressed the need for training in business skills — including commerce and digital marketing — financial accounting and management tools, as well as acquiring knowledge on making proposals in response to bids and tenders.
The survey found 41.2 per cent of female business leaders said the main challenge they faced in the UAE was the lack of access to markets; 38.8 per cent said it was access to finance, while 33.5 per cent said high market competition was a drawback.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Team: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Sam Simmonds
Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
