TiE Women MENA 2025 Competition Launches to Empower Women Entrepreneurs in the Region

• TiE Women MENA 2025 competition launched officially by the Dubai chapter of TiE Global  
• Commemorates the sixth annual edition of the initiative empowering women entrepreneurs in the MENA region  
• Seeks to empower and uplift women-owned startups across various countries 

TiE Dubai has officially kicked off the sixth edition of the TiE Women MENA 2025 program, an initiative to empower and promote women entrepreneurs in the region. This year's program consists of five tracks: TiE Women Emirati, TiE Women UAE, TiE Women Saudi Arabia, TiE Women Egypt, and TiE Women Rest of MENA. 

Applications are until June 15, with shortlisted businesses advancing through screening and local competitions during September to reach the MENA finals at Expand North Star at GITEX Global this October in Dubai Harbour. Finalists will then advance to the Global Finals at the TiE Global Summit in Jaipur, India in December. 

The program is designed to close the gender funding gap and provide equal opportunities to women founders. Finalists will be offered mentorship, access to workshops, exposure to investors and business development assistance by TiE Dubai Charter Members. 

TiE Women MENA 2025 Co-Chair Raed Hafez also pointed out the organization's focus on inclusiveness and empowerment, pointing out the dramatic funding gap in the region where male-only startups raise five times as much money as their female counterparts. Co-Chair Carlina Marani pointed to an increasing momentum for reform, with a 23.1 percent increase in women's presence in the UAE private sector in 2024. 

A study indicates parity of gender across the MENA region, at the same speed as UAE, would add $812 billion to regional GDP in three years. Ever since its launch in 2020, the program has been progressively adding impact-oriented startups in HealthTech, EdTech, Sustainability, and Life Sciences. 

The TiE Women MENA 2024 competition hosted excellent female-owned business concepts from all over the region. Maryam Al Ansari of the UAE amazed everyone with the use of AI for automating legal research, while Emirati Ria Chakrabarti employed computer vision technology to create an AI-powered personalized styling platform.  

Egypt's Nadine Farrag awed with Farahy, Egypt's largest wedding planning platform. Saudi Arabia's Fatimah Al Abbad created minimally invasive orthopaedic devices for use in assisting the healthcare community. In lieu of the MENA region at large, Nivine Hachem offered an environmentally friendly solution to sustainability as sustainable construction material from recycled plastic. All these pioneering women showed how technology and innovation can create substantial change in various industries. The winner of the Global Finals will take home a $50,000 equity-free grant. 

Startups eligible to compete should be female-led or co-led, incorporated after 1st January 2018, and the founders should retain a minimum of 33 percent equity.