Applications open until June 15, 2025, inviting women-led startups across MENA to join a transformative entrepreneurial journey
Dubai, UAE – 24 April 2025 – The Dubai chapter of TiE Global has officially launched the sixth annual TiE Women MENA 2025 competition, an empowering initiative designed to support and elevate women entrepreneurs across the region. The program runs five parallel tracks: TiE Women Emirati, TiE Women UAE, TiE Women Saudi Arabia, TiE Women Egypt, and TiE Women Rest of MENA.
The competition kicks off with an application phase open until June 15, 2025. Through multiple rounds of screening, an impartial jury comprising TiE Dubai Charter Members will identify the most innovative ventures across the five tracks. Shortlisted entries will move forward to regional competitions in September, with finalists presenting their startups in a series of competitive pitch events. Winners from each track will then advance to the MENA finals, set to take place during Expand North Star at GITEX Global in Dubai Harbour this October. The journey concludes with the Global Finals, to be hosted at the TiE Global Summit in Jaipur, India, in December.
The program aims to foster equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs, enabling them to thrive and make a meaningful impact on their economies. This year, it continues to spotlight the role of women in business, with a strong emphasis on developing their skills through a structured and supportive framework.
At every stage, selected finalists will benefit from a series of one-on-one mentoring clinics, targeted workshops led by TiE Dubai members, networking opportunities with industry leaders, and direct exposure to investors and experts. TiE Dubai Charter Members, a community of seasoned business leaders and entrepreneurs, will drive mentorship and training, offering startups vital insights to scale their businesses.
Raed Hafez, Co-Chair of TiE Women MENA 2025 added: “Our vision is to embrace, engage, and empower women entrepreneurs across the globe, regardless of their enterprise size, origin, or background. With a mission built on learning, mentorship, funding access, scalability, and community, TiE Women MENA 2025 aims to be a catalyst for a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. This support is more critical than ever, as recent data shows male-only ventures in the MENA region still raise five times more funding than women-only ventures, highlighting the pressing need to create greater opportunities and access for female founders.”
Carlina Marani, Charter Member and Co-Chair of TiE Women MENA 2025, said: “Despite women leading less than 5% of businesses in the MENA region, the momentum for change is undeniable, with the UAE alone seeing a 23.1% increase in women’s participation in the private sector in 2024. Being part of TiE Women 2024 as a mentor showed me firsthand the enormous impact this program has on female founders. Under the guidance of TiE Dubai, through mentorship, training, and exposure at GITEX and across the TiE global network, women entrepreneurs truly flourish, strengthening not just their businesses but the entrepreneurial ecosystem as a whole.”
Tapping into the vast, underutilised pool of female talent presents a significant opportunity, with research indicating that the MEA region could add $812 billion to its GDP over the next three years if gender parity across the region mirrors the progress seen in the UAE.
Since its inception in 2020, TiE Women MENA has witnessed double-digit growth in the number of applicants annually, with startups increasingly focused on social impact sectors such as HealthTech, EdTech, Sustainability, and Life Sciences. As a mission-driven initiative, the competition collaborates with 16+ accelerators, incubators, venture capital funds, and angel investor networks, leveraging their combined strengths to empower and elevate women entrepreneurs across the startup ecosystem.
The TiE Women MENA 2024 winners stand as shining examples: Maryam Al Ansari (Itifaq, UAE) using AI for legal research; Ria Chakrabarti (Veristyle, UAE) leveraging computer vision for personal styling; Nadine Farrag (Farahy, Egypt), founder of Egypt’s largest wedding platform; Fatimah Al Abbad (Magic Pin, Saudi Arabia) developing minimally invasive orthopaedic devices; and Nivine Hachem (Paltic, Rest of MENA) creating sustainable building materials from recycled plastics.
The TiE Women Global Finals winner will receive an equity-free cash grant of $50,000, further boosting their business growth and impact.
Open to female-founded or co-founded startups less than seven years old (registered after January 1, 2018), the competition seeks to boost ventures with demonstrated traction. Participating founders must hold at least 33% equity.
Application details and submission can be accessed through the official TiE Women website.
About TiE:
The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region. There are currently over 20,000 members, including over 3,500 charter members in 64 chapters across 14 countries. TiE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, education, incubating, and funding. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE’s focus is on generating and nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs.
About TiE Dubai:
The Dubai Chapter of TiE was established in 2003 to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the Middle East region and was inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the TECOM Free Zone Authority, and TiE Dubai enjoys the support of TECOM and Dubai Internet City since its inception in January 2003. Through this strategic partnership with TECOM, Dubai Internet City and the in5 Innovation Centers, we have played a pioneering role in the UAE Entrepreneurial ecosystem for over 22 years.
TiE Dubai through its diverse charter members provides assistance and guidance to a community of more than 3,000 budding entrepreneurs through events and programs that span across Networking, Mentoring, Funding, Incubation and Education. For more information, visit https://dubai.tie.org/