Dubai - The number of businesswomen and entrepreneurs
appears to be on the rise in the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
encouraged by a growing number of schemes.
The UAE has over 11,000 businesswomen managing investments worth
over 4 billion dollars, the economy ministry says.
Of these, 14.9 per cent of the women are from Kuwait, 9.8 per cent
from Saudi Arabia, 7.8 per cent from Bahrain, 4.7 per cent from Oman
and 4.5 percent from Qatar.
Emirate businesswomen invested a total of 3.3 billion dollars in
the economy of Dubai in 2007, according to figures released this
week.
These investments were made in sectors like real estate,
construction, finance, trade manufacturing and hospitality, Raja al-
Gurg, the president of the Dubai Business Women's Council (DBWC) and
Managing Director of the Easa Saleh al-Gurg Group said.
Schemes and funds have been implemented by companies, and Islamic
banks have encouraged women entrepreneurs, according to the Governor
of the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), Omar bin Sulaiman.
One major scheme that was launched last January is Forsa - an
exclusive investment company for UAE-based women investors and
entrepreneurs.
The proportion of women in managerial positions in the UAE is
currently at 30 per cent and a few companies, like the Dubai World
shopping complex, have more women than men in senior positions.
UAE Economy Minister Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi recently noted that
UAE businesswomen have emerged as key players in all walks of public
life including commerce, socio-economic development and politics.
Remarking on the rise in the number of women players in various
endeavours, Sheikha Lubna said: 'There is no field that women have
not excelled in.'
She further highlighted the need to encourage various initiatives
through joint ventures between the public and the private sectors to
advance opportunities for women.
The rise of women in the workforce is partly due to investment in
education by Arab rulers in the 1970s, when free education to all
citizens through university was guaranteed by some Gulf nations.
In May, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan announced plans to
allocate one third of government jobs to Saudi women. Saudi Arabia's
8th Five-Year Development Plan (2005-2009) aims to increase the
percentage of women in the workforce from 5.4 per cent to 14.2 per
cent.
In the Gulf, women comprise 25 per cent of the total workforce,
with 4.5 percent owning freehold businesses.
Bahrain leads with 59 per cent of women who are sole owners of
their firms, followed - elsewhere in the Arab world - by Tunisia at
55 per cent, 48 per cent in Jordan and the UAE, and 41 percent in
Lebanon.
The composition of women in the UAE workforce surged to the
current 33.4 per cent compared to 9.6 per cent in 1986.
Sheikha Lubna also commented that major reforms were under way in
the Middle East aimed at increasing women's contribution in every
economic sector.
Al-Gurg said: 'With an expected 30 per cent growth of the female
workforce by 2010, women are definitely an integral part of steering
the economic force.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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