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Forbes Middle East/Leadership/Women Leaders/

Women Leaders


VISA’S “SHE’S NEXT” AWARDS A TOTAL OF $360,000 TO WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ACROSS GCC

ByLayan Abo Shkier Forbes Middle East Staff
Sep 28, 2023, 14:15 PM
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Six winners recieved the She’s Next grant across GCC, and six other winners from
each market received the People’s Favorite award. Image by Visa

Global digital payments company, Visa, has announced the six winners of its
She’s Next grant program across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and
Kuwait, as well as six other winners from each market who received the People’s
Favorite award.



Launched for the first time in the region in July 2022, She’s Next, empowered by
Visa, is a global advocacy program that aims to support women-owned small
businesses through funding, training, and mentorship. The initiative also
highlights Visa’s efforts to support the digitalization of women-owned
businesses.



Six women-owned small businesses from the six markets were chosen from over 880
applicants from across the GCC. The winning SMBs received a $50,000 grant each,
along with a year of business coaching from the International Trade Centre
(ITC), a United Nations and World Trade Organization, and $3,000 of Amazon Web
Services (AWS) credits. The business coaching will be provided by the ITC
SheTrades Initiative, ITC’s flagship women and trade program. The winners were
selected from a pool of applicants representing a range of sectors, including
textiles, education, food and beverage, professional services, beauty, and
wellness.



Forbes Middle East is Visa’s exclusive media partner in its She’s Next
initiative. Its other partners for this initiative were: Monsha'at, the Ministry
of Communications and Information Technology, and the Arab National Bank from
Saudi Arabia; Bank Muscat from Oman; the Bahrain Islamic Bank from Bahrain; the
First Abu Dhabi Bank from the UAE; the National Bank of Kuwait from Kuwait; and
the Qatar Development Bank from Qatar. All had a common goal to support women
entrepreneurs in the GCC markets. Visa also prioritized women’s education and
resources through strategic partnerships with AWS and ITC.



Esteemed juries consisting of representatives from Visa and its partners in each
market evaluated entries based on the progression of an applicant’s
entrepreneurial journey, the robustness of their business metrics, their digital
presence, and their demonstrated ability to problem-solve confidently. Winners
were selected at four different award ceremonies held in the UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, and Qatar between September 6 and 25, 2023. These events included
fireside chats and panel discussions with accomplished female entrepreneurs from
the GCC, including: Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Vice Chairman of Emaar; Amira Sajwani,
Managing Director of Sales & Development at DAMAC Properties and Founder of
PRYPCO; and Amal Dokhan, General Partner of 500 Global MENA.



For the first time, She’s Next included a People’s Favorite award with a cash
prize of $10,000 for one winner from each of the six countries, voted for online
by members of the public.





Image by Visa





Image by Visa

Here are the winners from each market:



The UAE:

 * She’s Next Winner: Jennifer Sault, Thrift for Good
 * People’s Favorite Award Winner: Nada Alawadhi, The Bookshelf



Saudi Arabia:

 * She’s Next Winner: Aliyah Alghubayn, Ptway
 * People’s Favorite Award Winner: Saria Alderhali, Bondai



Qatar:

 * She’s Next Winner: Maya Claude Habib, The Guilt Free Kitchen
 * People’s Favorite Award Winner: Aisha Mohammed Salim, Eunoia



Kuwait:

 * She’s Next Winner: Yasmeen AlKandari and Yuser AlMutawa, Seeds
 * People’s Favorite Award Winner: Dalal Beidun, mylk ma’am



Oman:

 * She’s Next Winner: Yasmeen Al Alawi, Sprout
 * People’s Favorite Award Winner: Shamsa Al Salami, Zumr



Bahrain:

 * She’s Next Winner: Aida Almudaifa, Early Rise
 * People’s Favorite Award Winner: Esraa AlJanahi, EJS Dynamic Fitness



This year’s She’s Next also featured the launch of Visa’s first Women SMB
Digitalization Index, which measures digital maturity using five key indicators:
online presence, digital payments acceptance, payment security awareness,
customer engagement, and customer retention. According to the Index, all the
women entrepreneurs surveyed in the GCC (100%) acknowledged the increasing
importance of sustainability in the current business landscape, indicating their
commitment to reduce waste, recycle products (45%), and minimize plastic usage
(51%).



Through their participation in the She's Next program, these women entrepreneurs
have already gained practical insights from women in leadership roles, valuable
resources, educational tools, and guided training sessions. This includes access
to AWS Connected Community and ITC SheTrades Initiative's "Elevate Your
Business" training program. Visa and ITC will also provide one-to-one advisory
support for 30 finalists – equipping these individuals with the guidance and
insights to boost their business and financial strategies.



Since 2020, Visa has invested over $3 million in over 250 grants and coaching
for women SMB owners through the She’s Next grant program globally, including in
the US, Canada, India, Ireland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE,
Egypt, and Morocco.





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Visa
Women In Tech
Businesswomen
Women Leaders
Female Founders
female leaders
ByLayan Abo Shkier Forbes Middle East Staff

Layan is the Women Editor and a Researcher at Forbes Middle East, where she
oversees a few lists and rankings, and helps in creating the rest. She also
writes for the printed monthly magazine of Forbes Middle East, and hold a
bachelor's degree in Journalism from The American University of Sharjah.

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