Girl Power

This month we once again throw our support behind female founders in the Middle East. These entrepreneurs are the brains and vision behind many well-known and up-and-coming fashion, beauty, jewelry, and technology-based brands – and most have built their businesses from scratch, relying on their own funding, their own strength, and their own belief that they can create something special and unique. Their grit is admirable and necessary. Women still face numerous barriers to setting up and running their own businesses in the Middle East. Only 5% of businesses in MENA are women-owned compared to a global average of 26%, according to the Atlantic Council. A 2022 forum co-hosted by the Union for the Mediterranean and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization found that gender bias is still an issue when it comes to finding funding in the region, with venture capital in MENA 92% controlled by men.

However, this issue is packed with female founders that are pushing the boundaries and setting up businesses despite the barriers to entry. The U.A.E., Egypt, and Lebanon remain the most active markets for these entrepreneurs. Last year, our list of 30 Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands featured 13 headquartered in the U.A.E., eight in Egypt, and five in Lebanon. This year, we have expanded our list to 50 brands, but the U.A.E. still leads with 20 entries, followed by 10 from Egypt and seven from Lebanon. When it comes to the 20 Women Behind Tech Brands, the U.A.E. and Egypt also remain the top two markets, with Saudi Arabia coming in third. Fintechs also dominate this list with five entries, followed by e-commerce and logistics with three each, and two crypto exchanges.

Saudi Arabia appears to be making moves to increase opportunities for new entrepreneurs. According to U.K.-based Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s global report for 2022/2023, the percentage of adults seeing good local opportunities to start a business fell in some established economies, including the U.S., post-pandemic, but increased in others, including Saudi Arabia, with government support being cited as one of the potential reasons for the rise. It also found that in 2022, there were only four out of 49 economies where the level of new entrepreneurial activity among women exceeded men: Togo, Indonesia, Qatar, and Poland. The GEM 2022 National Entrepreneurship Context Index named the top five economies in which to start a new business as the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, India, and the Netherlands.

This month we speak to four female founders from a variety of different angles. Moroccan Hind Sebti established her skincare brand whind in 2021, two years after cofounding beauty and wellness holding company Waldencast, which is today listed on Nasdaq. Egyptian Sara Onsi and BritishLebanese Nadine Merabi are both heading eponymous fashion brands, established in Egypt in 2016 and in the U.K. in 2010, respectively, with collections now regularly appearing at global fashion weeks. And Emirati influencer Salama Mohamed established her skincare brand with the Middle Eastern climate in mind in 2021, which she is now using to help refugee women earn their own income. I hope you find inspiration in their stories and among the many resilient women business owners in this issue.

—Claudine Coletti, Managing Editor