Untapped potential of female businesses – GulfToday

Untapped potential of female businesses – GulfToday

Mastercard, the Official Payment Technology Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai, has teamed up with the region’s largest network for women-owned businesses, Female Fusion, to unlock opportunities for women entrepreneurs at the world’s largest cultural gathering. The collaboration will result in a host of knowledge-sharing, networking and mentoring events aimed at women-owned businesses that will aim to empower and educate them, to grow and scale their businesses and include them in an evolving digital economy. The series of activities, designed to accelerate women’s impact in creating a better world, will take place at the Women’s Pavilion by Expo 2020, in collaboration with Cartier. There will also be virtual workshops hosted during the six-month period. The alliance will invite notable guests, including Sarah Beydoun, Founder and Creative Director of a social impact fashion business in Lebanon; Ioanna Angelidaki, co-founder of Instashop; and Maureen Hall, Founder and CEO of a sunwear brand. The workshops will empower entrepreneurs with valuable skills to go digital and grow digital in their ventures. According to the inaugural Mastercard MEA SME Confidence Index, 81% of the region’s women entrepreneurs have a digital presence for their businesses, compared to 68% of their male counterparts. In terms of a digital