- The seminar supports over 880 women-owned and led businesses by addressing their specific needs.
- She’s Next final ceremony in the UAE will be held on September 11th in partnership with First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Visa’s She's Next grant program, a unique initiative to support women-owned and led businesses in the GCC countries, has received an overwhelming response with over 880 applications. In its next phase, the program is set to launch an engaging and insightful training seminar, titled “Elevate Your Business,” in partnership with ITC’s SheTrades Initiative.
This seminar is designed to help women entrepreneurs realize their potential and achieve their business ambitions. It includes virtual on-boarding and tools for business diagnosis and self-assessment, followed by innovative virtual acceleration sessions. Applicants will receive in-country workshops and one-to-one advisory, providing them with targeted assistance and guidance.
Drawing upon the insights from the recent "Women SMB Digitalization Study" survey, conducted by Visa during the application process, this pioneering training package is specially designed to address the specific needs of women entrepreneurs.
According to findings in the UAE, women entrepreneurs surveyed showed interest in a host of topics ranging from hiring the right talent (33%), competition assessment (35%), and setting business profitability goals (36%). Almost everyone displayed interest in payment related training (95%). The workshop topics that garnered most interest included tools to overcome fear of failure (33%), cost control and tracking (33%), and how to get additional funding (32%).
Carl Manlan, Head of Inclusive Impact & Sustainability, Visa said: “Collaborating with ITC, a United Nations and World Trade Organization, to elevate the competitiveness of women entrepreneurs in the GCC region is part of our commitment to transform economies by including more women in business across the globe. Women entrepreneurs are the foundation of thriving societies and by enabling them, we make business and communities better for current and future generations.”
The She's Next grant program will host closing ceremonies in the UAE on September 11th, 2023. During the ceremonies five shortlisted candidates from the UAE will pitch their ideas, and one winner will be selected to receive a USD50,000 grant and a tailored training program.
Additionally, Visa is set to launch the UAE People's Favorite Award Ceremony. The award underscores Visa’s commitment to women entrepreneurs who continue to inspire and uplift their communities. The recipient of this award will also receive a prize of USD10,000.
The 5 candidates from UAE are:
- Bambuyu, Sahar Karoubi
- HeroGo, Donna Glasper
- Sprout, Ozlem Erbas
- The Bookshelf, Nada AlAwadhi
- Thrift for Good, Jennifer Sault
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Amazon Web Services have partnered with Visa for this initiative with a common goal to support women entrepreneurs in the UAE.
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About Visa Inc.
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at About Visa, visamiddleeast.com/blog and @Visamiddleeast.
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