"sail" Concludes the first edition of the Sharjah Fellowship for Women Impact Makers

Sharjah, March 24 / WAM / The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center “Sheraa” concluded the first edition of the Sharjah Women Impact Makers Fellowship, which brought together 12 female entrepreneurs, as part of a development journey that focused on developing leadership skills and promoting the growth of projects, in a step aimed at supporting women-led companies and enhancing their presence in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Sharjah and the region.

The program formed a development platform for participating female founders, as it focused on enhancing leadership and project management skills, in addition to connecting them to a network of investors, mentors, and partners in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The first batch also laid the foundation for transforming the fellowship into a long-term initiative that supports the growth of women-led projects and expands their impact within Sharjah’s entrepreneurial scene.

Her Excellency Sarah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Executive Director of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), said that the progress achieved by women entrepreneurs through the Sharjah Women Impact Makers Fellowship reflects an advanced level of maturity in managing their projects and their ability to make more informed decisions and deal with challenges with confidence, which confirms the importance of having a supportive environment capable of keeping pace with and enhancing this development.

She added that this is in line with the direction that Sheraa is working on to enable women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and enhance their impact, while the fellowship continues to consolidate this direction as a sustainable path that supports the growth of women entrepreneurs and enhances their presence through its next editions.

The Sharjah Women Impact Makers Fellowship adopted a rigorous selection process to ensure the founders are prepared for the next stage of their projects’ growth.

The selection process included an evaluation conducted by the Executive Director of Sheraa, in addition to a weighted evaluation system, behavioral psychological tests, and specialized interviews that focused on female entrepreneurs who lead projects that achieve clear progress and have the ability to expand.

The program followed the four-dimensional methodology: discovery, definition, development, and depth, as it guides female founders through a gradual journey that combines leadership development on the personal level, enhancing the institutional strategy for projects, and broader engagement in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The Sharjah Women Impact Makers Fellowship trip came in cooperation with a network of partners who contributed to supporting the various stages of the program.

Implementation partners included Accenture, Publicis Groupe, Orbis Terra Media, the Pearl Initiative, Kearney, EY, and Microsoft, each of whom provided expertise in the areas of leadership development, building brand identity, measuring impact, and project growth, while the program received the support of a number of sponsors, including Fikri Business Consulting, Shurooq, Meem Foundation, and Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Real Estate.

The fellowship contributed to supporting the growth of the participating projects, and the female colleagues also received financial support through a grant worth 500 thousand dirhams provided by Fikri Business Consulting, which was allocated to support the development of the fellowship members’ projects and enhance their growth and expansion paths.

The fellowship contributed to enriching the regional debate on women in the entrepreneurship environment through cooperation with the Meem Foundation, which is conducting a research study on financing women-led projects. The female fellows participated in this study through research interviews, the results of which contribute to supporting the development of future policies, financing mechanisms, and programs to support the women’s entrepreneurship system in the region.

Through the program, the female founders advanced on an integrated journey that combined leadership development and enhancing the growth of projects. This journey included a prominent stop, which was a leadership forum in Kalba, in addition to a series of specialized sessions and workshops in cooperation with partners such as “Accenture and Publicis through “Atelier Potentialis,” in addition to sessions on building personal identity in cooperation with “Orbis Terra Media” and dialogues with leaders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The fellowship also provided female founders with additional opportunities to develop their projects through “Scale Up MENA” sessions, in addition to deepening their understanding of impact measurement in collaboration with the Pearl Initiative.

The program concluded with a workshop on policy readiness and institutional support in cooperation with Kearney, in addition to a closing session with Dr. Asma Fikri, the impact partner and supporter of the grant, which collected the most prominent outcomes of the trip.

Through this experience, the founders were able to develop their leadership careers in parallel with the growth of their projects, in addition to building new relationships and partnerships within the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region.

The experience opens new horizons for the female entrepreneurs who participated in the first batch to further develop their projects and enhance their presence in the entrepreneurial scene, in a step that reflects an increasing trajectory of the role of female entrepreneurs in shaping the future of entrepreneurship in Sharjah and the region.

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