Eight out of 10 women entrepreneurs in UAE tap into personal savings, survey finds

About three fifths faced difficulty in securing funds for digitalisation

About 40 per cent of the women surveyed cited leadership as their top motivation for becoming an entrepreneur. Getty

Nearly half of women business owners in the UAE face challenges in raising capital, with eight out of 10 tapping into their personal savings, a survey has found.

More than half of the female entrepreneurs surveyed also faced stereotypes such as being considered less capable of making tough decisions, according to Visa’s Women SMB Digitalisation Index, which was released on Thursday.

The index, which assesses businesses using multiple indicators, found that companies owned by women in the UAE scored highly on digital marketing, online presence and customer engagement.

“Women entrepreneurs face unique challenges, such as limited access to capital, and dealing with stereotypes, which often complicate the already complex digitalisation journey in today's business landscape,” said Salima Gutieva, Visa's vice president and country manager for the UAE.

About 60 per cent of respondents faced challenges in securing funds for digitalisation due to high implementation costs, lack of investor understanding of the benefits, and hesitance caused by a lack of technical expertise, the index found.

If they received additional funds, most respondents said the amount would be invested in new technologies (43 per cent), advertising and marketing (42 per cent) and creating new products and services (41 per cent).

Although a large majority of the respondents plan to digitise their businesses in the future, accepting digital payments from customers was stated as the top challenge while running a business by 76 per cent of the women surveyed.

Meanwhile, about 40 per cent of the respondents cited leadership as their top motivation for becoming an entrepreneur, followed by financial independence at 38 per cent.

The UAE has been focusing heavily on boosting female entrepreneurship.

Earlier this month, Abdullah bin Touq, Minister of Economy, said that women-led start-ups and businesses would play an important role in driving the country’s economic growth.

The government has passed laws and policies over the past 15 years to enhance women's contribution to society and the nation's sustainable economic development, reflecting its commitment to women's empowerment across economic, social and work spheres, Mr bin Touq said during an event in Dubai.

“As a result, today, women represent half of the country’s workforce and their representation in boardrooms went up from 4 per cent to 8.8 per cent in just a couple of years,” he said.

“Besides, the UAE has the highest share of women in parliament at 50 per cent and is also among those countries with the largest number of women ministers at 28 per cent.”

Twenty-five thousand Emirati women entrepreneurs owned 50,000 businesses valued at Dh60 billion ($16.3 billion) in 2022, according to Nama Women Advancement, a Sharjah-based establishment contributing to inclusion and closing the gender gap.

That is up from about 23,000 Emirati women running businesses worth Dh50 billion in 2019, data showed.