DUBAI: 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 per cent of decision-makers at US VC firms are women. According to ArabNet, female founders make up 14 per cent of Mena entrepreneurs, while UN Women has reported that 10 per cent 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.

WAM