On 2 June, following three months of hands-on support with skills development, intensive customer discovery and continuous business refinement, the women entrepreneurs involved in the ‘Promoting Women Entrepreneurs in the UAE’ project by grow.ME pitched their businesses to a panel of experts for a place in the ‘final 25’ at a special event hosted by the Dubai Business Women Council at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The project was launched in March 2016 by grow.ME, in association with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. This work is part of grow.ME’s wider ‘Women-able’ initiative, which seeks to power women in business across the UAE.

With generous funding from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the project is supporting 61 women entrepreneurs through training and mentorship over the course of nine months. Chief executive of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Sevi Simavi, said, “Our project with grow.ME will empower women entrepreneurs in the UAE to develop their business management and financial literacy skills so that they are able to build sustainable enterprises and play a stronger role in the economy.”

“Our contestants joined the project with some extraordinary ideas and have worked hard to shape these into attractive offerings for customers and develop workable business models”, commented Maria Pearson, Founder of grow.ME.
The 25 women who are selected by the panel will be coached, mentored and advised by industry experts to receive further support to shape and grow their businesses. The project will support the finalists to boost their sales, access networking opportunities and secure support from investors at a Demo Day event in November.