Building a business whatever your gender: Dubai's drive to empower women entrepreneurs

More and more women are taking the plunge to set up their own business in Dubai, from food and beverage outlets to consultancies and retail stores.

One factor enabling this is the infrastructure that female entrepreneurs and stakeholders in Dubai's startup ecosystem are now able to access. This includes incentives such as additional funding and encouraging business licensing schemes.

For two years, Coralie Francois-Dolidon dreamed of starting her own fashion business as she worked as a buyer in Dubai. She felt there was a market for small independent designer fashion labels. After carefully studying the market, she found that setting up a company was more straightforward than she could have imagined.

Fast forward five years and she now owns five stores across the city. Coralie, who founded multi-brand fashion retail company Maison Clad, told Euronews it has been challenging but worth it.

“Today I'm like a seller, an accountant, a buyer still, of course, a marketing manager. I can now develop a website. It has been an interesting five-year journey.”

Hannah says that being a female entrepreneur is not an easy journey and is not for the faint-hearted, but there is support in the shape of male and female mentors as well as female-only networking and support groups in Dubai.

She added that the fundraising aspect of the business is still challenging and is a global issue.

“I think two per cent of all VC money actually goes to female-founded businesses worldwide, which is shocking, and the numbers don't lie. So, I think on the fundraising side, we need a push towards female entrepreneurship. But generally, in Dubai, we have a great network of support and mentorship.”

According to data analysts, Magnitt, 11% of Venture Capital funding