Women a rising force in Emirates business (News Feature)

Dec 14, 2007, 15:24 GMT

Dubai - The number of businesswomen and entrepreneurs appears to be on the rise in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), encouraged by a growing number of schemes.

The UAE has over 11,000 businesswomen managing investments worth over 4 billion dollars, the economy ministry says.

Of these, 14.9 per cent of the women are from Kuwait, 9.8 per cent from Saudi Arabia, 7.8 per cent from Bahrain, 4.7 per cent from Oman and 4.5 percent from Qatar.

Emirate businesswomen invested a total of 3.3 billion dollars in the economy of Dubai in 2007, according to figures released this week.

These investments were made in sectors like real estate, construction, finance, trade manufacturing and hospitality, Raja al- Gurg, the president of the Dubai Business Women's Council (DBWC) and Managing Director of the Easa Saleh al-Gurg Group said.

Schemes and funds have been implemented by companies, and Islamic banks have encouraged women entrepreneurs, according to the Governor of the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), Omar bin Sulaiman.

One major scheme that was launched last January is Forsa - an exclusive investment company for UAE-based women investors and entrepreneurs.

The proportion of women in managerial positions in the UAE is currently at 30 per cent and a few companies, like the Dubai World shopping complex, have more women than men in senior positions.

UAE Economy Minister Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi recently noted that UAE businesswomen have emerged as key players in all walks of public life including commerce, socio-economic development and politics.

Remarking on the rise in the number of women players in various endeavours, Sheikha Lubna said: 'There is no field that women have not excelled in.'

She further highlighted the need to encourage various initiatives through joint ventures between the public and the private sectors to advance opportunities for women.

The rise of women in the workforce is partly due to investment in education by Arab rulers in the 1970s, when free education to all citizens through university was guaranteed by some Gulf nations.

In May, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan announced plans to allocate one third of government jobs to Saudi women. Saudi Arabia's 8th Five-Year Development Plan (2005-2009) aims to increase the percentage of women in the workforce from 5.4 per cent to 14.2 per cent.

In the Gulf, women comprise 25 per cent of the total workforce, with 4.5 percent owning freehold businesses.

Bahrain leads with 59 per cent of women who are sole owners of their firms, followed - elsewhere in the Arab world - by Tunisia at 55 per cent, 48 per cent in Jordan and the UAE, and 41 percent in Lebanon.

The composition of women in the UAE workforce surged to the current 33.4 per cent compared to 9.6 per cent in 1986.

Sheikha Lubna also commented that major reforms were under way in the Middle East aimed at increasing women's contribution in every economic sector.

Al-Gurg said: 'With an expected 30 per cent growth of the female workforce by 2010, women are definitely an integral part of steering the economic force.'