The Dubai chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) has officially launched the fifth annual TiE Women MENA Program 2024, an empowering initiative designed to support and elevate women entrepreneurs across the MENA region. The program expands its reach to include 5 categories UAE, Emirati, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the rest of the Middle East, underlining its commitment to fostering gender parity in entrepreneurship in line with government efforts.
The competition kicks off with an application phase open until June 1st, 2024. Through several rounds of screening, an unbiased jury with TiE Dubai Charter members will select the top innovative ideas from each of the five categories. The selected finalists will showcase their ventures in five rigorous pitch competitions. The winners of these competitions prep for the MENA finals, previously hosted at the North Star Expand at GITEX. At every stage, the program will include mentorship sessions with renowned and experienced industry leaders, financial advisory services, strategy coaching, workshops on practical business planning, an online global accelerator program and tips to nail the perfect investor pitch. The competition will conclude with the Global Finals in December 2024.
World Bank stated that women entrepreneurs had equal access to finance, and the growth of the companies could generate a $5-6 trillion expansion in global GDP. Additionally, nearly half of the women in the UAE alone face significant barriers in accessing capital, with 8 out of 10 women tapping into their personal savings. This highlights the essential role of initiatives like The TiE Women MENA Program, which offers funding, mentorship, and community support for entrepreneurs of all industries.
The program seeks to create equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs to excel and contribute significantly to their economies. This year’s theme continues to highlight the role of women in business, with a focus on nurturing their skills through a structured framework. Participating startups undergo several stages of development, from initial application, through intensive 1:1 mentorship, to pitching their ideas in front of a seasoned panel of judges at the MENA and Global finals.
Being a mission-driven organization TiE Women MENA Program 2024 works with over 15 accelerators, incubators, VC funds, and members of the angel investor community in the startup ecosystem to harness each other’s strengths and specialties to uplift women entrepreneurs. Some partners include in5, DBWC, Flat6labs (MENA), Plug and Play, StartAD, Wamda, Female Angels 2022, AngelSpark, Astrolabs (Saudi), LIVINC (Jordan), Women Spark (Saudi).
TiE charter members like Ashish Panjabi, CEO, of Jacky’s Electronics; Mahesh Jaishankar, Head of Strategic Negotiations MENA, Google; and Sanjay Babur, Founder of Bestinsurance.ae; Veena Munganahalli, serial entrepreneur and investor; Shabana Karim, Founder/CEO of House of Enspa and Shameema Parveen CEO of Edutech are some of the judges for the program.
