Dubai Exports, the export promotion agency of Dubai Economy, along with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and UPS continue supporting women entrepreneurs through a two-day workshop that began today at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai, and focus on expanding their cross border business opportunities. Held under the theme "Preparing for Export", the workshop forms part of ITC's SheTrades initiative, which aims to connect three million women entrepreneurs to market by 2021. "The UAE's emphasis on women empowerment and Dubai's strengths as the region's business and exports hub can contribute to establishing a gender balance in global trade," said Engineer Saed Al Awadi, CEO of Dubai Exports. "The UAE is ranked as a leading country in gender equality regionally and initiatives to support innovative enterprise are encouraging UAE women to launch and lead businesses. Dubai Exports is proud to see that our participation in SheTrades MENA is bringing new opportunities for ambitious women in the region." "Supporting women-owned businesses to capture international growth opportunities is part of UPS's strategic focus of helping small businesses in high growth markets to succeed," said Rami Suleiman, UPS president for Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. "These workshops give participants insight into the SheTrades project - its goals and activities. It's also an opportunity for us as logistics providers to learn about the key issues and challenges female entrepreneurs face in the Middle East. We very much look forward to continuing our work in this field to create equal opportunities for growth." The initiative aims to create an ecosystem of solutions that empower women economically through greater integration in trade. It is focused on increasing the participation of women-owned businesses in trade by improving their competitiveness, providing new opportunities within trade logistics and strengthening the support available to them to generate business. The project is aligned with the UPS Women Exporters Program, a global effort to promote the growth of women-owned businesses. A recent report analyzed thousands of regional investments in start-ups across the MENA region last year and found that only 14% of deals were with start-ups founded by women. Experts also suggest that if women and men were to participate in the economy equally, the global annual GDP would increase by $28 trillion, or 26%, by 2025. Achieving gender balance on boards as well as throughout the executive ranks is widely recognized as a global economic imperative. "Economies that provide better opportunities for women entrepreneurs are stronger and more competitive," said Vanessa Erogbogbo, Chief, Sustainable and Inclusive Value Chains. "We are delighted to partner with UPS and Dubai Exports to connect women entrepreneurs to experts from leading global companies in an enriching environment where they can also gain inspiration from other successful women entrepreneurs." The SheTrades Initiative is working with partners, including governments, private-sector companies, international organizations, and others, to expand opportunities for women entrepreneurs by acting on key pillars to catalyze international trade. These pillars include championing quality data, enacting fair policies, enabling market access, unlocking financial services and granting ownership rights. The two-day workshop brought speakers from a range of organizations including Dubai Exports, Expo 2020 Dubai, PayPal, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, APCO and Sealed Air. The attendees learned how to expand a business with an export strategy and improve foreign markets awareness. The event also included interactive sessions on how to improve competitiveness, get the right packaging and case studies in to becoming successful entrepreneurs. The SheTrades initiative is present in more than 25 countries and globally, more than 120 corporations and institutions have signed up to support the initiative. — SG
