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In addition to this major women-focused event, the forum in Dubai also held a ministerial panel discussion on the importance of micro, small and medium enterprises, known as MSMEs, for post-COVID recovery. The discussion also emphasized that the power of Africa’s youth is critical to attracting future foreign investment in the continent’s development.
Let Arab women shine
Speaking at a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship, Farida Al Awadi, Chairperson of the UAE Council of Women Entrepreneurs, said: “Unfortunately, women in the Middle East and Arab countries are harmed or their stories are misrepresented in the media. Image.”
Sonya Janahi, CEO of RA’EDAT Arab Women’s Portal, agreed, adding: “Arab women are unprecedented in many ways, but unfortunately, there is a lack of international knowledge [about what they are doing]. So let’s focus on empowering Arab women to shine, co-create opportunities to work and collaborate, and focus on how to train and develop women so that their entrepreneurial journey can also be an investment journey. “
However, all participants agreed that promoting entrepreneurship and achieving gender equality in the business world requires providing more opportunities and better financing channels for women, so that female entrepreneurs are on the same level as male entrepreneurs.
![Farida Al Awadhi, Chairperson of the Emirates Council for Women Entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates, spoke during a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship at the World Entrepreneur Investment Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Farida Al Awadhi, Chairperson of the Emirates Council for Women Entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates, spoke during a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship at the World Entrepreneur Investment Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.](https://global.unitednations.entermediadb.net/assets/mediadb/services/module/asset/downloads/preset/Libraries/Production+Library/29-03-2022_ITPO-UNIDO-02.jpg/image1170x530cropped.jpg)
Farida Al Awadhi, Chairperson of the Emirates Council for Women Entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates, spoke during a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship at the World Entrepreneur Investment Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Involve women in the conversation
“There are many initiatives to close this gap, but we are not there yet,” said Dr. Louiza Chitour, health technology project manager at Plug and Play in Abu Dhabi. Plug and Play Abu Dhabi is a corporate social responsibility initiative that helps female founders around the world access funding and thrive in their businesses. enterprise.
“So it’s more important for us to be part of these investment conversations — how to get women to invest, how to educate them — so that they believe they can be part of this investment world that’s escaping us.”
Ibukun Awosika, host of the conference and chairman of the International Women Entrepreneurs Challenge, pointed out that the challenges faced by women in the entrepreneurial world are even more severe for African women entrepreneurs.
He later told UN News in an interview: “Our cultural system faces some challenges, and all male and female entrepreneurs face common challenges, our infrastructure, finance [systems], perceptions of women relative to men, and sometimes opportunities and limitations. “
Despite significant gains over the past few decades, women’s socioeconomic disadvantage remains reflected in pervasive gender inequalities in earning income, access to productive resources such as credit cards and assets, education, freedom to pursue a career, and access to finance. .
Addressing unequal power dynamics
Jessica Neumann, investment and technology promotion expert and gender focal point at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), said the agency is finalizing its gender lens investment and training e-learning course.
“We decided to design [this] Free virtual eLearning course that really stops focusing on women and trying to solve their problems as we move beyond conversations about what women should do to raise money for businesses and instead raise awareness [about] this [unfair] The power dynamics that exist in the financial industry,” she explains.
She continued that UNIDO has long been focused on gender analysis, “In every project we do, we look at the power dynamics in which women are excluded and take steps and measures to ensure that they are excluded from our programs Equality benefits. So instead of doing a women’s accelerator this time, we’re now talking to men and trying to get them to understand that investing in women is real business.”
Government support is seen as crucial to achieving gender equality and getting more women in charge of their own businesses.
Farida Al Awadhi, Chairperson of the UAE Council of Women Entrepreneurs, concluded: “Yes. We can do it. But the process will be faster if the government puts in place rules, regulations and policies that support women.”
![Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of the International Women’s Entrepreneurship Challenge, spoke on a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship at the World Entrepreneurship Investment Forum in Dubai. Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of the International Women’s Entrepreneurship Challenge, spoke on a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship at the World Entrepreneurship Investment Forum in Dubai.](https://global.unitednations.entermediadb.net/assets/mediadb/services/module/asset/downloads/preset/Libraries/Production+Library/29-03-2022_ITPO-UNIDO-01.jpg/image1170x530cropped.jpg)
Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of the International Women’s Entrepreneurship Challenge, spoke on a panel on promoting female entrepreneurship at the World Entrepreneurship Investment Forum in Dubai.
Ministerial Group: Taking SMEs seriously
Speakers at Tuesday’s ministerial discussion also endorsed government support for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Panellists include: Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director-General of the African Risk Capability Cluster (ARC), Ahmed bin Abdullah Humaid Dr. Ahmed bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi; Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, United Arab Emirates; Abdul Rahim, Minister of Affairs, Economy, Development Planning and International Cooperation of Chad ·Dr. Younes Ali.
The ministerial group emphasized the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing the world economy, especially in the face of multiple serious global challenges. With the pandemic causing unprecedented disruption to the global economy and labor markets at all levels, with supply chains grinding to a halt and lockdowns forcing many businesses to close, it’s no surprise that small and medium-sized businesses have been among the worst affected.
Mr. Dion spoke about the challenges Africans face when it comes to investment and what needs to be done to support small and medium-sized enterprises on the continent.
He added that when it comes to the African SME sector, one thing that everyone agrees on is that 80% of the jobs on the continent are provided by African SMEs. “Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises must be taken seriously.”
The UN official pointed out some of the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises on the African continent: first, market access, noting that “without a market it is impossible to establish projects”; second, helping small and medium-sized enterprises obtain financing. Third, provide necessary resources for capacity building.
![Ibrahima Sheikh Dion, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director-General of the African Risk Capacity Group, speaks during a ministerial discussion on government support for small and medium-sized enterprises Ibrahima Sheikh Dion, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director-General of the African Risk Capacity Group, speaks during a ministerial discussion on government support for small and medium-sized enterprises](https://global.unitednations.entermediadb.net/assets/mediadb/services/module/asset/downloads/preset/Libraries/Production+Library/29-03-2022_ITPO-UNIDO-06.jpg/image1170x530cropped.jpg)
Ibrahima Sheikh Dion, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director-General of the Africa Risk Capacity Cluster, speaks during a ministerial discussion on day two of the Entrepreneurship and SME Summit, which discussed government support for SMEs Questions Dubai Investment Forum.
Africa: the continent of future investment
After the meeting, Dr. Abd al-Rahim Younes, Chad’s Minister of State, Economy, Development Planning and International Cooperation, told United Nations News that Africa is “the continent of future investment.” And pointed out that young people account for more than 60% of Africa’s population, more than one percent of the population. This large group of young people are now starting to form companies or seek employment in the private sector.
He noted that African governments support young people through local, regional or international funding, stressing that the continent is rich in natural resources such as water, oil, minerals and all energy sources.
“Chad has more than 120 million livestock, more than 25 million hectares of arable land and newly discovered oil fields, in addition to large amounts of gold. We look forward to the future and [the] Investments will come from Arab, European and Asian countries,” he said.
Empowering Arab women economically
Following the workshop on promoting women’s entrepreneurship, a number of Arab women entrepreneurs from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates also graduated, receiving training on how to develop, sustain and grow their projects.
The training course, entitled “Arab Women’s Economic Empowerment”, was held virtually online by UNIDO’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office.
The biennial World Entrepreneurship and Investment Forum (WEIF 2022) is hosted at the Dubai Exhibition Center at Expo 2020 Dubai and co-organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)/Investment and Science and Technology Promotion Office (Bahrain), and will be held on March 30 Continue on Wednesday.
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