DUBAI, 27th November, 2024 (WAM) – The Global Women’s Forum Dubai 2024 today saw a session titled ‘WIn Fellowship: Driving Tomorrow’s Innovations Through Entrepreneurship’, where Sabrin Rahman, Managing Director and Head of Sustainability, HSBC Europe, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said that when women enter the investment space, new, resilient, and authentic ideas come to the table, elevating the level of entrepreneurial projects.
However, Rahman highlighted a noticeable funding gap between male and female-led entrepreneurial projects, with funding often skewed in favour of male-managed ventures. She highlighted the initiatives HSBC has adopted to bring all stakeholders together on one platform, encouraging them to support women-led startups and provide incentives to ensure their long-term sustainability.
The situation was far more challenging even five years ago. While progress has been made, much more is needed to encourage investors, incubators, and accelerators to offer both financial and technical support to women-managed projects, remarked Rahman.
Jumana Al Darwish, UAE WIn Fellow and Founder of The Happy Box, acknowledged the significant achievements of female entrepreneurs in the past decade. However, she stressed that social, traditional, and cultural barriers still need to be addressed. Socio-cultural barriers hinder the progress of female entrepreneurs and may impact their agility, she noted. Al Darwish shared her personal experience of facing family objections when leaving her government job to pursue her passion for entrepreneurship. Today, she works closely with her peers in the WIn Fellowship to empower women-led startups and entrepreneurs, establishing partnerships, social enterprise platforms, and digital access points to provide much-needed support.