Sharjah Businesswomen Council…a pioneering model for women’s economic empowerment

Sharjah, December 12 / WAM / The Sharjah Businesswomen Council’s journey continues as an empowering platform that creates impact, turns ambition into realistic opportunities, and supports female entrepreneurs to be an active partner in the local and national economy and contribute to advancing the process of comprehensive and sustainable economic development.

As part of its efforts to empower women economically, the Council launched many initiatives and services, including providing ready-made headquarters for women’s projects, adopting creative ideas for women entrepreneurs, providing training and guidance to them, helping them enter the business world with confidence and ability, and other supportive initiatives, in the context of enhancing women’s presence in economic sectors and consolidating their contribution to development.

These efforts constitute an integral part of the achievements made by the UAE in the field of justice and equal opportunities, by advancing to seventh place globally and maintaining first place regionally in the 2024 Gender Equality Index issued by the United Nations Development Programme.

In light of the government and institutional support represented by the Emirati business councils, especially the Sharjah Businesswomen Council, the number of female entrepreneurs and their economic contributions has witnessed significant growth, which has contributed to strengthening the UAE’s position as a leading destination for women’s empowerment and leadership in the business sector.

A report issued by the Emirates Businesswomen’s Councils indicates an increase in the percentage of women’s participation in the workforce to 34.6% in 2024, compared to 32.5% in 2023. Businesswomen constituted 18% of the total entrepreneurs in the Emirates, and women-owned businesses in the country and led by women under the age of forty constituted 77.6%.

The report shows that 48.8% of these women hold CEO positions and 61.4% of them own their businesses individually, which reflects a noticeable increase in women’s entrepreneurship, as the first half of this year witnessed the registration of more than 2,000 new companies founded by Emirati businesswomen, and these companies represent about 22% of the total new companies registered in the country.

These data are clear evidence of the growth of women’s role in the national economy and a reflection of the vision of the Sharjah Businesswomen Council in supporting women and enabling them to transform their ideas into successful projects, as the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation explained that women’s participation in the country’s labor market recorded a growth of 16% during the first ten months of the current year.

The Sharjah Businesswomen Council is keen to consolidate local and international partnerships with the aim of helping female entrepreneurs enter new markets, as it believes in the importance of cooperation and integration in bringing about qualitative transformations in the national economy, especially with institutions that have common goals locally and in Europe, and in particular with the European Women’s Association within the second “Businesswomen’s Forum between Sharjah and Europe” organized by the “Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry” in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

The Council’s strategy contributes to expanding the share of businesswomen in the economy of the UAE and the region, which constitutes an important step to advance the local economy and support its various sectors. The Council is also keen to open new horizons of cooperation and joint work with counterpart institutions in the world to embody its vision aimed at representing Sharjah and the UAE in international forums.

According to the report on women-owned companies in the UAE, “A Golden Opportunity 2022,” issued by UN Women in cooperation with the Nama Foundation for the Advancement of Women in Sharjah, the Sharjah Businesswomen’s Council is keen to support female entrepreneurs. Since its establishment, the Council has launched a number of financing and training initiatives aimed at strengthening the capabilities of businesswomen in Sharjah and the UAE, including the “Anwan Market” initiative, which provides small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the UAE with the opportunity to develop their projects by renting shops and offices in this market and obtaining access to them. On training and guidance, in addition to the “Jeel” initiative in cooperation with the “Education for Employment” initiative to support the creative ideas of entrepreneurs.

The Council also provided a “single window” service to simplify the process of obtaining permits, visas and licenses from the Sharjah Economic Development Department, in addition to launching the “Sharjah Businesswomen Council mobile application”, in addition to signing many partnerships with a group of government agencies and attending regional and international conferences. In 2022, the Sharjah Businesswomen Council doubled the number of its members to 2,246.

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