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Over the past 10 years, more and more women in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region are starting their own businesses, many in the technology and innovation sectors, and securing their futures. According to the International Finance Corporation, since the tech industry is still relatively new in the Arab world, there is no legacy of it being male-dominated. As a result, one in every three tech firms in the Middle East is led by women, much higher than in Silicon Valley.
The fifth-annual Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs report shows that more women are starting businesses in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, and Lebanon than ever before. The report found that 87% of Saudi Arabia’s female business owners started companies to raise their financial independence. Entrepreneurship is particularly attractive for women in this region who have grown up with technology and social media. They have ideas and ambitions to start up and grow their companies.
The catalyst for them starting their own companies is often tied to societal pressures on women to stay at home, the gender gap, and structural disadvantages in fund-raising and investments.
An additional benefit is that according to the World Bank, female-owned businesses hire more women (25%) than their male counterparts do (22%). Female-owned firms also employ a higher percentage of women in managerial roles, helping women to climb up the ladder, compared to those who are only hired for lower, unskilled positions. To top it off, women-led businesses are hiring more workers in general. In Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, firms run by women are growing their workforces at higher rates than those run by men.
This week in Marrakesh, we at Start-Up Nation Central with our partner Moroccan CPR and the support of many partners in Morocco are bringing together nearly 100 female business leaders from across four continents to forge new collaborations in the Connect to Innovate event. We will explore the role of innovation in empowering women to generate prosperity in the region. The women hail from Bahrain, Benin, the Central African Republic, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Together, we will focus on the shared challenges facing the Middle East and Africa and how they are defined not just by geography, culture or religion, but also by how these impact women’s access to financial security, education and the basic infrastructure that enable opportunities for women to lead. Each female leader represents a network of women in their own countries with which they can share their takeaways from the gathering and through that, expand and share a passion for scripting the future of the region.
By bringing together prominent women in business, innovation, and technology from the region, we are creating a cohort of women who will help propel our region forward. Inspired by His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s active role and vision about women’s role in economic development, Morocco sits at the crossroads of connecting the Middle East and Africa and is therefore a pivotal player in helping to further grow female entrepreneurship in the region.
This gathering builds on the momentum of the country by fostering dialogue and connecting female business leaders from across the region. Growing female talent in the workforce is an important goal for Morocco and it is wonderful to convene this impressive group of women here this week. This week, the groundwork for new collaborations will be laid, and we will harness the power of bringing women together to share their stories and journeys to success, and we look forward to seeing it progress.
