Across the Gulf\u202d, \u202cwomen looking to start businesses have more institutional support than ever\u202d. \u202cThe UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism has expanded programmes and resources for female entrepreneurs\u202d, \u202ccoinciding with more women entering the business space\u202d. \u202cAs\u202d \u202cof March 2026\u202d, \u202c48,257\u202d \u202cEmirati women are reported to be entrepreneurs\u202d, \u202cand women own or co-own more than 114,000\u202d \u202csmall and medium\u202d-\u202csized enterprises across the UAE\u202d. \u202cSeparately\u202d, \u202cthe Abu Dhabi Registration Authority announced that it issued 3,058\u202d \u202cnew economic\u202d \u202clicences to female entrepreneurs in the first half of 2026\u202d, \u202cup 6.4\u202d \u202cper cent from 2,873\u202d \u202clicenses issued during the same period in\u202d \u202c2025\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
The same race toward growth in the female-led entrepreneurial space is echoed across the Levant\u202d. \u202cA recent World Bank report found that Jordan has made significant progress in women\u2019s entrepreneurship\u202d, \u202csurpassing targets with its\u202d $\u202c226\u202d \u202cmillion Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Women Project\u202d. \u202cWomen-owned\u202d \u202cbusinesses in Jordan reached 2,026\u202d \u202cas of July 2026\u202d, \u202cmore than double the target of 1,000\u202d \u202cscheduled for June 2028\u202d. \u202cIn Lebanon\u202d, \u202cUN-backed programmes are providing women-led businesses with funding and technical support\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
However\u202d, \u202cdespite the surge in institutional and government-backed support for female entrepreneurs\u202d, \u202ccapital flowing to women-led\u202d \u202ccompanies has remained low\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
In the first half of 2026\u202d, \u202cmale-founded startups in the MENA region captured nearly 95\u202d \u202cper cent of all capital\u202d, \u202craising\u202d $\u202c1.7\u202d \u202cbillion across 213\u202d \u202cdeals\u202d. \u202cIn comparison\u202d, \u202cfemale-founded companies secured only\u202d $\u202c2.5\u202d \u202cmillion across 14\u202d \u202ctransactions\u202d, \u202ctaking in just\u202d \u202c0.14\u202d \u202cper cent of total funding\u202d. \u202cMixed-gender founder teams accounted for the remainder of deals\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Divya Unnikrishnan\u202d, \u202cco-founder of NoorConnect\u202d, \u202ca technology and AI services provider\u202d, \u202chas experienced that disconnect firsthand\u202d.\u202c\u202d \u202cThe Dubai-based entrepreneur and her female co-founder are building AI products at a moment when artificial intelligence is attracting some of the region\u2019s biggest investment rounds\u202d. \u202c\u201cGetting meetings with investors\u202d, \u202cwe have sort of figured it out\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cUnnikrishnan said\u202d. \u202cTwo or three meetings in\u202d, \u202cthey are still not convinced\u202d, \u202cshe explained when she had to raise capital\u202d. \u202c\u201cThe final cheque\u202e\u2026\u202c\u202d \u202cit\u2019s been a challenge\u202d.\u202c\u201d<\/p>\n
Unnikrishnan spent nearly two decades in the corporate world\u202d, \u202cworking at companies like Accenture\u202d, \u202cCapgemini\u202d, \u202cand HP\u202d, \u202cbefore jumping into entrepreneurship a little more than a year ago\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Breaking into the UAE\u2019s startup ecosystem required a different playbook\u202d, \u202cshe explained\u202d. \u202cUnnikrishnan found that cold outreach to investors only went so far\u202d. \u202cAccess often only came through warm introductions\u202d, \u202caccelerators\u202d, \u202cmentors\u202d, \u202cand founder communities\u202d. \u202cEven after her company\u202d \u202cplaced in the top 10\u202d \u202cof an accelerator programme\u202d, \u202cUnnikrishnan said she still encountered partiality from investors\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the opportunity is there\u202d. \u202cBut a little bit of bias is always there\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cshe said\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Heather Henyon\u202d, \u202ca founding partner of Mindshift Capital\u202d, \u202cwhich invests in women-led companies across the US\u202d, \u202cMiddle East and Europe\u202d, \u202csays the problem isn\u2019t lack of founders looking for capital\u202d. \u202cMindshift reviews roughly 1,000\u202d \u202ccompanies each year\u202d. \u202c\u201cWe are inundated by women-led companies seeking capital\u202d. \u202cThere certainly isn\u2019t a shortage\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202csaid Henyon\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Mindshift invests at the seed\u202d, \u202cbridge\u202d, \u202cand Series A stages\u202d, \u202cbut Henyon says the biggest funding gap for female founders is at Series A\u202d. \u202c\u201cGenerally\u202d, \u202cfemale founders raise less capital than all-male founding teams\u202d, \u202cand the UAE has a similar dynamic\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cHenyon said\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Part of the problem\u202d, \u202cHenyon argues\u202d, \u202cis who controls the capital and influences where it goes\u202d. \u202cFor example\u202d, \u202cshe points out that women account for roughly 10\u202d \u202cper cent of general partners at venture firms in the US\u202d, \u202cand that\u2019s an even smaller share in the MENA region\u202d. \u202c\u201cChange one side to change the other\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cHenyon said\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Carlina Marani sees that pipeline firsthand\u202d. \u202cAfter more than two decades in leadership roles at companies like Accenture\u202d, \u202cIBM\u202d, \u202cMicrosoft\u202d, \u202cCisco and Dell\u202d, \u202cshe now advises startups and co-leads TiE Women MENA\u202d, \u202cwhere she works closely with women founders seeking to grow their businesses\u202d. \u202cThe accelerator works with women founders across the region by providing mentorship opportunities\u202d,\u202c\u202d \u202cexpanding investor access\u202d, \u202ccreating networking pathways\u202d, \u202cand hosting a final startup pitch competition where the winner earns a\u202d $\u202c50,000\u202d \u202cequity cash prize\u202d. \u202cIn the MENA region\u202d, \u202cthe programme works with female founders across five tracks\u202d, \u202cincluding the UAE\u202d, \u202cSaudi Arabia\u202d, \u202cEgypt\u202d, \u202cand parts of the Levant to help founders develop their pitches and put finalists in front of investors\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
However\u202d, \u202cMarani cautions against thinking that the funding gap women face is a problem unique to the Middle East\u202d. \u202cThe World Economic Forum reported that in 2025\u202d, \u202conly 2\u202d \u202cper cent of total venture capital globally went to all-female founder teams\u202d. \u202c\u201cIf we look at global development\u202d, \u202cespecially with the US kind of reversing all the inclusion and diversity programmes\u202d, \u202cetc\u202d, \u202cI think that has set us back a lot\u202d, \u202cright\u202d?\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cshe said\u202d. \u202cWomen from all over face these disparities\u202d, \u202cwhich leads her to a bleak view about how quickly that will change\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
More than 200\u202d \u202cwomen applied to the TiE Women MENA\u2019s programmes this year\u202d, \u202croughly double the number when it began\u202d, \u202cMarani said\u202d, \u202cnoting that applicant quality has also improved\u202d. \u202c\u201cOne of my friends is raising money in Europe\u202d, \u202cand she got me a T-shirt\u202d, \u202cand it says\u202d, \u202c\u2018Need money\u202d, \u202cnot friends\u2019\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cMarani said\u202d. \u202c\u201cI think that\u2019s a good tagline for what we need to give the females\u202d. \u202cI\u2019m not saying more\u202d, \u202cbut as much money as we\u2019re giving the males\u202d.\u202c\u201d<\/p>\n
Marani said she sees women building businesses that could attract venture capital\u202d, \u202cincluding companies in AI and health tech\u202d. \u202cBut even when they make it through the funding pipeline\u202d, \u202cshe sees another disparity emerge\u202d: \u202chow much they ask for and what they ultimately receive\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest problem is the cheque size\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cshe said\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
That gap isn\u2019t necessarily because women arrive before investors unprepared\u202d, \u202cshe said\u202d. \u202cBy the time many founders reach TiE Women\u202d, \u202cthey have already moved through accelerators and other startup programmes\u202d, \u202cand the strongest candidates come prepared with financial projections\u202d, \u202crevenue figures\u202d, \u202cand a clear fundraising ask\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Women tend to seek the amount of capital they believe they need\u202d, \u202cwhile male founders may be more willing to ask for significantly more\u202d. \u202cWomen tend to be practical\u202d, \u202cMarani explained\u202d. \u202c\u201cWhereas the male pitches ask for three times what they need\u202d.\u202c\u201d<\/p>\n
But Marani also sees a deeper problem in the kinds of companies investors are willing to back\u202d. \u202cMany women coming through the TiE Women programme are building companies related to sustainability\u202d, \u202chealth\u202d, \u202ccommunity\u202d, \u202cand often social impact\u202d, \u202cshe explained\u202d. \u202cMeanwhile\u202d, \u202csome of the region\u2019s biggest investors are increasingly focused on the A sector and others in the tech space that are commanding higher valuations\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
For example\u202d, \u202cshe points to a founder she met whose business model turned plastic bottles into panels\u202d, \u202cor another founder who made chemical-free tissues from bamboo\u202d. \u202c\u201cThe problem is the money goes to all the hype\u202d. \u202cAI\u202d, \u202ctech\u202d, \u202cright\u202d? \u202cQuick money\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cMarani said\u202d. \u202c\u201cAnd I do understand the VC\u202d, \u202cright\u202d? \u202cThe VC is there to make money\u202d. \u202cAnd the VC is there to say\u202d, \u202cI want a return on investment\u202d. \u202cSo\u202d \u202cwhat do they bet on\u202d? \u202cThey bet on the things that are hyping up\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cnot the sustainable companies that give back to communities that are harder to scale and build a clear ROI\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
The kind of companies women entrepreneurs tend to need funding for\u202d, \u202ccoupled with the fact that most VC firms are male-dominated\u202d,\u202c\u202d \u202cis a recipe for a systemic backstop\u202d, \u202cMarani explained\u202d. \u202c\u201cSo how do you get into the old boys\u2019\u202d \u202cnetwork\u202d?\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cshe asked\u202d. \u202c\u201cOn the back end\u202d, \u202cwe will need more females in\u202e\u00a0\u202c\u202d \u202cVC and angel investor spaces\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cadding that women in these spaces need to focus more on the socially conscious companies\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
But for founders like Unnikrishnan building in AI\u202d, \u202cthe promise isn\u2019t fully there\u202d, \u202cas she has still struggled to raise funds with her co-founder\u202d. \u202cShe explained that while there\u2019s a lot of excitement around AI\u202d, \u202cconversations with investors around scalability are usually a backstop\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Saima Tariq Khan has taken a different approach\u202d. \u202cShe is a computer systems engineer with more than two decades of experience in\u202d \u202ctechnology and education space\u202d, \u202cand she founded OrionsFlow in 2024\u202d, \u202ca Dubai-based company focused on AI governance and education\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rapid adoption of AI made one thing increasingly clear to me\u202d: \u202corganisations were moving much faster in adopting the technology than they were in developing the governance needed to use it responsibly\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cKhan said\u202d. \u202c\u201cOrionsFlow emerged from that gap\u202d. \u202cI wanted to take AI governance out of the realm of high-level principles and make it practical\u202d \u202c\u2014\u202d \u202cthrough tools\u202d, \u202cassessments\u202d, \u202ctraining and advisory work that organisations\u202d, \u202cincluding smaller companies and startups\u202d, \u202ccan actually use\u202d.\u202c\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan has funded the business herself and has not yet launched a formal fundraising round\u202d. \u202cSelf-funding\u202d, \u202cshe said\u202d, \u202cwas a deliberate decision\u202d \u202c\u201cto build lean\u201d\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this stage I see independence as a particularly valuable strength\u202d. \u202cIt gives me the freedom to develop the work around what I\u202d \u202cbelieve organisations genuinely need and to speak candidly about the technologies and practices I assess\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cKhan said\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
However\u202d, \u202cshe said she has begun engaging with the startup and investment ecosystem\u202d. \u202cKhan applied to TiE Women with a pitch deck\u202d,\u202c\u202d \u202cwhich exposed her to a network of people across the startup and investment community\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cI have learned the terminology along the way\u202d, \u202cbecome more familiar with how the investment ecosystem works\u202d, \u202cand continued to develop and sharpen my own concepts\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cKhan said\u202d. \u202c\u201cI would rather approach investors when I can show a clearer product path\u202d, \u202cstronger customer validation\u202d, \u202cand a specific reason for taking capital\u202d.\u202c\u201d<\/p>\n
She doesn\u2019t see fundraising itself as a badge of success\u202d. \u202c\u201cCapital should enable something\u202d \u202c\u2014\u202d \u202cfaster product development\u202d, \u202cmarket expansion\u202d, \u202chiring\u202d, \u202cor scale\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cKhan said\u202d. \u202cHowever\u202d, \u202cshe acknowledges that mentorship and capital are not interchangeable\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
Marani points out that she has seen a growing pattern of women walk away from venture capital altogether\u202d. \u202cSome female entrepreneurs either decide the amount offered isn\u2019t worth the equity investors want in return\u202d, \u202cand others\u202d, \u202clike Khan\u202d, \u202cwould rather grow more slowly or find that their values don\u2019t align with potential investors\u202d, \u202cshe explained\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen quite a few women saying I\u2019ll go bootstrap\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cMarani said\u202d. \u202cShe also questions whether the venture capital industry\u2019s fixation on building the next billion-dollar\u202d \u202c\u201cunicorn\u201d\u202d \u202creflects what founders are actually trying to build\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many women do you think will go\u202d, \u202c\u2018Oh\u202d, \u202cI need to be a unicorn\u202d?\u202c\u2019\u201d\u202d \u202cMarani said\u202d. \u202c\u201cThey just want to build a stable business\u202d.\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cA founder who builds a stable company\u202d, \u202ceventually exits and creates millions of dollars in wealth for herself and her family has still built something meaningful\u202d, \u202cshe said\u202d. \u202cWhile women want to build a business that has impact\u202d, \u202cthey still want to provide for their families\u202d, \u202cshe explained\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I am very pessimistic also because I have a 15-year-old daughter\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cMarani said\u202d. \u202c\u201cI was really hoping my daughter wouldn\u2019t have to deal with this\u202d, \u202cbut she is\u202d.\u202c\u201d<\/p>\n
Unnikrishnan is more optimistic\u202d. \u202cShe said she has already seen more women move into entrepreneurship and expects that momentum to continue\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in the next four or five years we will definitely see a lot of changes\u202d,\u202c\u201d\u202d \u202cshe said\u202d.\u202c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Across the Gulf\u202d, \u202cwomen looking to start businesses have more institutional support than ever\u202d. \u202cThe UAE Ministry of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[84,4203,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-783668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}