The event, held at the bank’s headquarters in Manama, provided a platform for insightful dialogue and knowledge exchange, underscoring the bank’s commitment to fostering innovation and supporting women in entrepreneurship.

During the session, participants shared key milestones from their entrepreneurial journeys, emphasizing using digital solutions and modern technology to develop innovative products and services that address evolving market needs. They also showcased aspects of their projects, explored strategies for growth and expansion, and discussed approaches to boost their presence in local and regional markets.

The discussion addressed challenges women entrepreneurs face, including liquidity constraints, marketing hurdles, intense competition, and access to financing. Additionally, the participants explored opportunities presented by emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and their potential to drive growth across diverse sectors.

The speakers warmly congratulated Bahraini women on the occasion of Bahraini Women’s Day, celebrated annually on December 1st, extending their best wishes for continued progress, leadership, and success. They also highlighted the vital contributions of Bahraini women to the nation’s development, underscoring their remarkable achievements across various fields.

Ten women-led startups have been selected for the fifth cohort of the “Women in Tech” program, representing a wide range of industries. These startups operate in sectors such as e-sports, B2B marketplaces, food technology, educational technology, human resources and employee wellness, event management platforms, restaurant management systems, health technology, and corporate rewards and loyalty programs.

The Standard Chartered Women in Tech Bahrain Incubation Program is conducted in partnership with Bahrain FinTech Bay and strategic collaborators, including the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), the Supreme Council for Women, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office in Bahrain (UNIDO ITPO Bahrain). Since its inception, the program has supported over 40 local startups through mentorship and training, with 16 of these startups receiving financial awards totalling more than $230,000.

The post Standard Chartered celebrates women entrepreneurship on Bahraini Women’s Day” appeared first on My Startup World - Everything About the World of Startups!.

Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of SRTI Park, will deliver a keynote speech at the forum, which is themed on “Sustainability and Sustainable Innovation” to highlight women’s achievements in this vital sector, as part of the UAE’s preparations to host the Conference of the Parties (COP28).

The 4^th annual forum organized by the Women in Tech organization will bring together researchers, experts, representatives from international organizations, advocates of women’s empowerment, and a number of female entrepreneurs, in addition to representatives from the government and private sectors, for an immersive experience of knowledge sharing, debates, and networking.

The Women in Tech MENA Awards, in its second edition, will honour women achievers in the field of innovation. It is one of the 7 regional awards that celebrate remarkable women around the world, who innovate, inspire, and transform the technology sector. Last year’s event honoured 8 outstanding women innovators from the region.

Hussain Al Mahmoudi, CEO of SRTI Park, said the forum resonates with the Park’s objectives of spurring women to engage in innovative technology ventures, in line with the vision of HH Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to promote women’s empowerment.

“Among SRTI Park’s goals is to work with local and international partners to identify more opportunities for the economic empowerment of women, enabling them to be leaders and contributors in the fields of science, technology and innovation. This event also represents the celebration of the great achievements of Emirati women, especially in the technology sector,” Al Mahmoudi remarked.

The theme of sustainability and sustainable Innovation will serve to highlight women’s role in this field, as the UAE gears to host COP28, which aims to explore modern innovations and investment opportunities that would support the world’s efforts to achieve climate neutrality, attended by a galaxy of world leaders and experts.

The forum will address a number of global issues that highlight the role of women and their achievements in this field, as well as ways to overcome the challenges to sustainable innovation and achieve compatibility with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a roadmap for global transformation. Elite expert speakers will highlight the interplay of innovation and sustainability with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Among the forum’s diversified programme will be sessions on women’s leadership in family businesses — a key element in the Gulf’s business landscape — and the power of youth in driving sustainable innovation.

The Women in Technology Awards are part of international awards programme organized at the global level on six continents, with the goal of celebrating inspiring female role models in the technology sectors, and enabling women to actively participate in development and in shaping the future.

The post SRTI Park to host Women in Technology Forum & Awards on September 20 appeared first on My Startup World - Everything About the World of Startups!.

FDM Group has revealed its top 5 tips for attracting, engaging and retaining women in the industry.

The economic benefits of women in tech
The Alpha Female report, published recently by Bank of America, found that companies in Asia-Pacific with a higher proportion of women in management, on average, outperformed by 26 per cent over a five-year period. But the gender pay gap persists.

Greater female participation would help address the already significant skills shortage in the tech workforce, but it is not just about equality and equity. Diverse teams are more likely to generate innovative ideas and solutions, leading to more creativity and improved problem-solving.

A spokesperson for FDM comments: “Women make up some of the most skilled professionals in the industry and by failing to attract, engage and retain women in tech, businesses are losing out.”

On comparison, companies with high gender-diversity outperform and deliver better financial returns. Those that hire and retain more women automatically gain a competitive advantage, a benefit that extends to all stakeholders.

Advancing women’s employment could add $12 trillion to global GDP and boost some countries’ economic output by as much as 35%, yet global progress is stagnating. The World Economic Forum’s 2022 Gender Gap Report rather gloomily predicts it will take 151 years to close economic gender gaps.

FDM’s five ways to attract, engage and retain women in tech:

1. Take action to address the gender pay gap in your organisation
The Alpha Female report found that in Asia, on average, females earn 83 cents to every dollar that males earn. Women will not be attracted to an industry where people are being paid differently for work of the same or comparable value. To tackle this, it’s crucial that the industry undergoes a transformation in its attitudes and practices.

To confront gender stereotypes many companies are implementing blind recruitment processes to reduce unconscious bias in hiring. Others, such as FDM, are introducing mentorship programmes and workshops to provide professional development opportunities for women to build networks and develop new skills in the tech industry.

An important first step for companies is to identify their gender pay gap and look at the measures and responsibilities for reducing it. Documenting any findings and progress in an annual report will demonstrate transparency and accountability to the public, and existing and prospective employees.

2. Create an inclusive work environment
Workplace discrimination and unfair treatment are some of the leading reasons for women to leave the tech industry, meaning inclusivity should be a top business priority for all organisations. It not only has implications for employee happiness and job satisfaction but also has legal obligations to treat all employees fairly and impartially.

Incorporating gender inclusivity into the workplace creates a sense of belonging for your employees, and feeling more valued, leading to higher levels of satisfaction and happiness.

Studies have shown that, depending on the organisation, happier teams can be anything from 12% – 37% more productive. Businesses benefit from increased revenue, reputation, and retention.

To build a truly inclusive workplace, encourage collaboration between men and women in teams to capitalise on the full spectrum of talents and points of view. Gender-neutral language should be used in marketing materials and job listings, as well as impartial hiring practices and merit-based appraisal processes.

3. Implement representation at all levels
Advocating for female representation in senior leadership positions is a key part of creating an inclusive and successful work culture. One of the main contributors to such a large gender pay gap in tech is the lack of female representation in senior and higher-paying roles.

Globally, less than a third of leadership positions are held by women, a figure that has scarcely changed in the last 7 years. In APAC, female representation in leadership is varied but consistently less than 50% – with Singapore one of the leading countries 42%, followed by Australia with 33%.

Furthermore, having female role models in leadership inspires junior female teams, who have reported that role models are important to their career success.

Additionally, increasing female representation will help reduce the ‘only’ experience felt by many women in the professional world, which can lead to feelings of alienation, having their ideas challenged or receiving derogatory comments. Ultimately, having more women in higher-paying, senior positions will foster a healthier work environment for everyone and help reduce the pay gap.

4. Provide family-friendly work benefits
In today’s job market, employees seek more than a decent salary; workplace benefits hold greater value. Remote work, private healthcare, and flexible hours are popular benefits, but preferences may vary depending on demographics.

To attract and retain female employees, it is crucial to understand their desired policies and benefits, particularly those that address unique challenges such as maternity leave and family responsibilities. Family-friendly benefits, including breastfeeding rooms, maternity leave and pay, flexible hours, remote work, and childcare facilities or expenses, can improve job satisfaction.

Sociology experts have termed the “motherhood penalty,” which highlights working mothers’ disadvantages compared to childless colleagues. Issues related to pay and perceived competence can lead to fewer commitments and dependability. Thus, family-friendly benefits should be an integral part of a company’s job offering to appeal to candidates choosing between companies.

5. Invest in mentorships, internships and apprenticeships
In many Asia-Pacific countries, women make up a majority of university graduates, but they are still in the minority when it comes to completing STEM degrees.

Programmes such as mentorships, internships, and apprenticeships can be valuable tools in encouraging women to pursue careers in the technology industry. Given the gender disparity in STEM education, offering alternative entry routes is particularly important.

Having a mentor can provide much-needed support and guidance, especially for minority groups who can benefit greatly from having role models to learn from. Studies also show that mentorships can boost job satisfaction and confidence among employees – with 91% of workers who have a career mentor saying they are happy in their jobs, and 89% stating they believe their contributions are valued by their colleagues.

Internships and apprenticeships can also help women gain a better understanding of what a career in tech entails before committing to full-time education or a job in the field. Similarly, apprenticeships present an excellent opportunity to enter a specific industry and gain practical training.

The post Five Ways to Attract, Engage and Retain Women in Tech appeared first on My Startup World - Everything About the World of Startups!.

Tell us about your leadership style and philosophy.
Empathy and collaboration are my greatest strengths. I connect with the team at the onset of the project, asking them what they’d like to do based on their career aspirations and then giving them the liberty to take it up in their way. Observing closely but not dictating, stepping in only where they need guidance is the correct approach. It is critical from an ownership perspective, and to hone decision–making abilities.

This also gives them the opportunity to try out things differently and shine. More importantly, they should not be afraid to fail as there are no right or wrong decisions. Either you succeed or you learn; both ways help you grow with experience. I learned this from my leaders and always try to emulate these qualities while working with my team.

What prompted you to consider a career in technology?
I belonged to a non-tech background but always believed that technology is the way forward. Although I joined my previous organization as an associate in a non-technology position, I was quite involved with their processes.

While analyzing company data, I constantly came across one challenge that the organization was struggling with regularly. I knew how they could possibly leverage technology to resolve it. The next step was to present the idea to the leadership team, which paved the way for an opportunity to build a product from scratch. Thankfully, they granted me a few months to turn this into a reality. During that period, I invested most of my team learning Python, SQL, collaborating with tech teams to get the final solution up and running. The product brought immense value in facilitating the timely delivery of consignments since time is of the essence in the logistics ecosystem. This is how I coincidently transitioned into the tech space to assume a technical role at the same organization.

What do you think is the best part of being a woman in the tech industry?
Thankfully, the startup ecosystem is driving immense change in defining a workplace. The challenges and opportunities for both men and women are equal. You need to prove your mettle, and that’s all that counts, at least through my experience.

Do you feel you have had to work harder than male colleagues to advance your career?
Fortunately, my skills took precedence over everything else, so I have not seen any such challenges in advancing my career. In fact, I have been blessed with great leaders and a supportive work environment who never judge on the basis of gender.

What motivates you every day?
Technology is fast evolving, and we see newer upgraded versions every day. The way we can leverage these technologies and integrate them into the existing systems to resolve some of the most challenging cases is what excites and motivates me. Besides, I always enjoy being part of various projects because that allows building stronger relationships with customers and introduces me to different team cultures.

What is the best professional advice you have ever received?
It would be to keep running the wheel and never stop learning.

What’s next for you in terms of your career in the tech industry?
We are seeing the deployment of advanced artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, Big Data at a massive scale. These are soon going to considerably change the way we work and live in the near future. Robot-based deliveries are already a rage in the US and the Middle East. My focus will be to evolve with these new-age technologies, leveraging them to solve supply chain and logistics problems that have been holding the industry back from realizing its full potential.

What are your thoughts on the next transformation in the tech industry?
We see rapid technology deployment throughout verticals such as agriculture, education, healthcare, etc. Still, hardly any of them caters to improving the quality of life or bringing people more opportunities, especially to the underprivileged. Things that human beings struggle with regularly, it would be great to see some development on that front. We should use technology to help humanity.

What advice would you give to women looking to break into the field of digital technology?
If you want to do it, just go for it. Don’t be on a pause listening to a thousand pieces of advice or limiting beliefs that don’t serve you. If you have the passion, you’ll develop the skills as you move and excel. The tech industry offers great opportunities for everyone, and you’ll be able to see tangible benefits of your work. Just be yourself, know your work, and be bold enough to fail; that’s enough for everyone to succeed.

Can you offer a few tips on achieving work-life balance in today’s scenario?
With teleworking in place, the lines between professional and personal lives get blurred. Hence it becomes very critical to manage times. We in our remote-work setups often tend to self-sabotage our routines by getting up late. So, the tip would be to start early to finish early. Try beginning with things that require no dependencies. For instance, I complete planning, solutioning, and designing before my team joins. It leaves me ample time to brainstorm and collaborate on other things and also log out at the right hour.

The post If you want it, just go for it appeared first on My Startup World - Everything About the World of Startups!.

The launch event, which took place at the DIFC Fintech Hive, was attended by several members of the local startup community, as well as executives from Standard Chartered, Hub71, Fintech Hive and Finyal Media. In its third year, Standard Chartered’s Women in Tech programme aims to promote the economic and social development of women entrepreneurs in the UAE through innovation and technology-led entrepreneurship.

The UAE-leg of this programme is part of the Bank’s global Women in Tech initiative that is live across nine markets, including Standard Chartered New York, Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Bahrain. In the UAE, the programme is focused on capacity building for women-owned enterprises and targets female-led entrepreneurial teams to provide them with training, mentorship and seed funding. In addition to mentorship programmes, Standard Chartered, DIFC Fintech Hive, and Hub71 will be giving away a total of USD 100,000 in funding to the winners of this year’s cohort.

Rola Abu Manneh, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank UAE, said “At Standard Chartered, we embrace and celebrate diversity, and we are proud to launch our third cohort of the Women in Tech programme in the UAE, in partnership with the DIFC Fintech Hive and Hub71. The initiative is part of our commitment to be Here for good, while bridging the vast funding gap that still exists for women entrepreneurs in the area of technology. We are confident that with such strong partners on board we will be able to bring even greater value to entrepreneurs for the third year, especially given a more simplified and favourable ecosystem for start-ups in the UAE.”

Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive VP, DIFC Fintech Hive, said “The Women in Tech program is a great launch pad for female-led businesses in the UAE. The support provided to these female founders during the program is necessary to accelerate the growth of their start-ups and I am thrilled to be part of an initiative that supports diversity and women in the entrepreneurial landscape.”

Jida Itani, COO of Hub71, said “Technology is central to our lives and cuts across all industries. Public and private sector initiatives that promote innovation are essential to growing industries and diversifying economies. At Hub71, we have witnessed a surge in female entrepreneurs and investors as part of our diverse community of more than 100 start-ups, where we empower women to take a leap of faith and venture into the world of tech. Our culture is based on openness, risk taking, excellence, and inclusivity, and our collaboration with Standard Chartered and DIFC Fintech Hive reinforces our long-term commitment to equal opportunities and a favourable environment for anyone from anywhere, with whatever idea they wish to grow.”

To date, Standard Chartered UAE has accelerated two cohorts, comprising of 12 start-ups, who have collectively raised over USD 5 million from various venture capitalists to expand their businesses within and outside of the UAE. The applications for the third cohort are open until 5 September 2021.

The post Standard Chartered Bank launches third cohort of the Women in Tech appeared first on My Startup World - Everything About the World of Startups!.

Standard Chartered’s Women in Tech programme (Womentum) aims to promote the economic and social development of women entrepreneurs in the UAE through innovation or technology led entrepreneurship.

The launch event took place at the Youth hub at Emirates towers and was attended by the start-up community, womena bossladies, as well as executives from Standard Chartered including Alex Manson, Global Head of Ventures; Julie Wallace, Global Head of Sustainability, Olga Arara-Kimani, Regional Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing in Africa and the Middle East along with Rola Abu Manneh, CEO for the Bank in UAE.

The UAE-based “Womentum” is part of a global Women In tech programme initiative that is already live in Standard Chartered New York, Kenya, Pakistan and Nigeria. “Womentum” will be focusing on capacity building for women-owned enterprises, target female-led entrepreneurial teams and provide them with training, mentorship and seed funding.

Nominated startups will be taken to Berlin and Dubai for an immersive experience in these two vibrant hubs, with a remote mentorship period in between. There also will be a one-month execution period with the final Demo Day Pitch in October. In addition to mentorship and world-class curriculum, Standard Chartered and womena will be giving away a total funding of USD160k to the top winners. This Accelerator will be filmed for an upcoming season of the documentary web series under the same name.

“At Standard Chartered, we embrace and celebrate diversity, including gender diversity, and we are proud to launch the ‘Women in Tech’ accelerator in collaboration with womena. “Womentum” aims to support, mentor and nurture women-led startups in the region. Our staff and partners are here to mentor the startups, help them scale and equip them with skills that are necessary to thrive in today’s world.” said Rola Abu Manneh, CEO Of Standard Chartered Bank UAE.

Standard Chartered UAE is uniquely positioned to bridge this gap with “Womentum”, which is expected to help women-led tech startups from across the MENA region to set up their businesses in the UAE.

“womena’s mission is to promote gender diversity and inclusion and we believe that the next wave of innovation will come from emerging market entrepreneurs – the women of these markets are pivotal in this journey. womena has built a programme that we felt was lacking in the regional ecosystem focused on female-led start-ups. In the world class curriculum, we envelop all content in perspective-shifting experiences: Taking the entrepreneurs out of their comfort zones and forcing them to look differently, innovatively at their solutions. We are looking to surpass all expectations in 2019 and once again prove that the region is poised to be a global hotbed for tech changemakers.” said Elissa Freiha, Founder, womena.

Olga Arara Kimani, Regional Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing for Standard Chartered in Africa and the Middle East said” The gender-based divide is still present across all industries. It has been reported that, financial investment received by female-led startups is 49.3% lower* than what is received by male-led startups. As an international bank with a rich history spanning over 160 years in Africa and the Middle East, we are well positioned to address such a gap and we are proud to be partnering with womena to support female-led startups in developing their enterprises.

The post Standard Chartered launches accelerator for Women in Tech in the UAE appeared first on My Startup World - Everything About the World of Startups!.