This is how the UAE helps NRI businesswomen excel

Women entrepreneurs share why the UAE is a vibrant market for businesses

Vanita Bhatia
Founder and CEO of DIVAlicious

"Fashion thrives on an eclectic mix of cultures and concepts. Dubai being a global hub, fashion gets the boost due to its varied audience and encourages designers to establish a diffusion of trends. Dubai also embraces international brands by making it easily accessible for the mixed nationalities residing here. A willingness to buy and easy access makes Dubai fashionably conscious with a dynamic pace, especially with bloggers and influencers being an active force as well. With a mix of various cultures, Dubai has become a socially popular hub for everyone. With such a dynamic global hub, fashion is pivotal and a major evolving essence in Dubai. To keep updated, fashion exhibitions like DIVAlicious are easily welcomed keeping in mind the right timing and brands."

Shalini Wadhera
Co-founder and Principal Growth Catalyst at ProVise Consulting

"The UAE is a perfect example of women empowerment; putting equal emphasis on women's education and providing job opportunities. Today, women make up 60 to 70 per cent of the public-sector workforce, out of which 30 per cent are in leadership roles. If it had not been for the UAE, I am not sure if we would have taken the decision to start ProVise in 2011. The UAE is ranked as a leading country in gender equality in the region. Gender equality is of paramount importance in the UAE. The success of an economy is measured by the involvement and empowerment of its women. The UAE is highly progressive on this front, and from my perspective, it offers women immense opportunities to either take up jobs or become entrepreneurs."

Geeta Pahlajani
Entrepreneur and Founder of ?Goodness Cart

"The UAE is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world, and recent developments show that one emerging segment for e-retail is health and well-being. The GCC e-commerce market is set to quadruple and reach $20 billion by 2020, according to global consultancy AT Kearney. The idea behind Goodness Cart is to make well-being an accessible, cost-effective, convenient and time-saving solution for everyone whilst going well beyond the one brand solution or fresh produce offering currently available in the Gulf. This online marketplace showcases a unique offering with the Goodness Cart Lab. The team individually tests every single product that is available on the website before it is delivered to quality control every product."

Shirley Jeff
Creative Head and Managing Partner of Bowline Corporate Gifts

"With changing times, corporate gifts have become more innovative and trendy. Only when they make their way to our office desks, do we realise the effort that has gone into making them appealing enough. The UAE is always celebrating throughout the year, be it festivals, events or special days, therefore, corporate gifts as a business is here to stay. Corporate gifts, gives us insight into how Dubai is a very eventful place, and there are plenty of activities throughout the year. I believe the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has a significant role in laying a strong foundation for women. Efforts of the Dubai Business Women Council at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry is commendable. They encourage women entrepreneurs to promote business management and financial skills."


Ghayathri Desai
Veteran Indian Artist and Curator, who is also the founder of Aart Souqk 6

"There is a lot of local and global talent here in the UAE, with artists participating in various art events and exhibitions. There are many initiatives today that allow artists to showcase their talent, creativity, skills and abilities in public spaces and private galleries. Various platforms support artists where they are producing and promoting their works in collaboration with art and culture organisations in the UAE. For artists, separating work from life can be especially difficult. Since the creative process is ongoing, the stress that comes along with it can seep into everyday life. Balancing work and life can be a real challenge, but if there is a well chalked out timetable, there will be sufficient time available to balance home and work life."

Rincey Philip
Creative Director, Rincey Philip Interiors

"I will forever be grateful to the UAE's visionary leadership for the number of initiatives they have taken to encourage women of all socio-cultural backgrounds. It is also not unpopular here to see all-women teams leading an entire company and having fun at it. Women in leadership in the UAE encourage other women in leadership. The culture has always been about collaboration over competition. Since I was hungry to figure out what I wanted to do, interior design started making total sense. Getting employment at the time was difficult. I did not wait. I asked a few friends and family if they were willing to give me a chance to help them decorate their homes. With few Facebook pictures and few lives changed, here I am doing what I love utmost every single day. So, it was a combination of the global recession, hunger for a more fulfilling life and the desire to use my gifts to be of service to my neighbour."

Hardika Mehta
Partner for Community Building (Dubai) at ah! Ventures

"We are currently focusing on initiatives that are limited to community outreach and connecting interfaces. We are encouraging UAE start-ups and investors to interact more actively with their counterparts in other parts of the world, especially India, where we are headquartered. We are looking forward to firming up further our investor base in the UAE for which I am actively holding conversations. We are also looking to create a platform for not just the UAE but for MENA start-ups as well as those from Africa to showcase themselves at valuable investor and mentor interfaces. We designed our first community interface called SMARTup between start-ups and our investors in June and had a very positive and encouraging response. We have plans to repeat these interfaces in the coming months."

Divya Bhagtani
Founder, Accountant's Box

"Women are increasingly taking up the entrepreneurial path in the UAE, and they derive a lot of confidence from the nation's open and safe society. The UAE government is encouraging women to participate more and more in business. Seeing so many women in business is a discovery. There are more and more inquiries from women each day to tap Accountant's Box services. Accountant's Box is an outsourced accounting and VAT consulting firm. The company supports SME clients who do not have in-house accounting and tax teams in understanding financial performance, keeping track of cash flows and ensure compliance with VAT law. I am the founding partner at Accountant's Box. We mainly cater to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs."

Sonia Satham
Co-founder, Panacea Medical and Wellness Centre

"Healthcare is an insurance-driven industry - getting affiliations for a brand-new clinic was a challenge. We explained our philosophy, processes and work ethics, invited prospective insurance affiliates to visit our premises and meet our doctors but the initial response was discouraging as insurance companies are busy and responses were not quick or positive. Persistence, patience and showing them the value proposition helped us to sign on several big players in the first year. Once we had some insurance affiliates on board, it was easier to sign on more. Now, we accept all major health insurances. To be competitive, we have made our patients our priority. Our tagline 'Compassionate healing and more choice' defines what we do, which is serving our patients with compassion. We also strive to give them more choice as we have more than one doctor in almost all specialities, so patients can choose who they want to consult."

Anishkaa Gehani
Managing Director, Yardstick Marketing

Evolution and innovation are key to staying relevant today. Businesses need to evolve constantly and embrace new trends. What's worked in the past does not work today simply because the market is transitioning every day. The ease of adaptability to the fast-paced environment dictates a lot of success. I always wanted to do things differently. For me, it was still about creating value for the clients we work with. We have a flexible approach towards marketing consultancy. As a consultant, I've always felt responsible for not only propose the right strategy but also to ensure the business is reaching its goals by deploying the right mix of marketing tactics. Yardstick was a product of my passion for great marketing and communications."

Padmini Gupta
CEO, Rise

"The UAE does a tremendous job in creating avenues for innovative ideas to flourish. The ability for a start-up to access mentors and workspaces is substantial. There are plenty of start-up showcases as well, including SEF, Step and GITEX, which allow SMEs to showcase their talent and attract potential investors. Few countries have an international platform such as the one provided by the UAE. The entry costs for entrepreneurship here are high, and so is the cost of failure. Removing both those barriers will allow aspiring entrepreneurs who cannot afford to take the cost risk the opportunity to try. Stemming from this, you will see more market innovations because some of the best ideas in the world have come from those who lacked access to an essential good or service."

Sonia Satham

Anishkaa Gehani

Rincey Philip

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