NAMA报告：阿拉伯联合酋长国妇女拥有的企业_29页_1mb

Economic empowerment

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plays a key role in promoting small enterprise development and economic diversification; however, women-owned businesses (WOBs) in the UAE face access barriers in finance. Although the female entrepreneurial sector is progressing in the UAE, the availability of proper financial resources and services is still low, especially in the early stages of venture creation. A multitude of surveys revealed financial constraints and non-financial barriers that greatly influence the growth performance of WOBs. The challenges lie in the lack of adequate collateral, high borrowing costs, cultural gender-based restrictions in accepting female entrepreneurs, and deficient banking infrastructure.

Financing context

In the MENA region, financial sector shortcomings pose a major barrier to SME access to credit. WOBs specifically suffer from policy, market, and institutional constraints that threaten their growth and equity. The study indicates that despite a favorable business environment in the UAE, the financial sub-sectors fail to provide sufficient opportunities to WOBs because non-institutional barriers are not addressed and financial institutions maintain gender-sensitive approaches. Therefore, there is an urgent need for gender-responsive and tailored financial solutions to bolster the entrepreneurial growth of female enterprise owners.

Challenges

The main engine of economic growth in the UAE relies hugely on small and medium enterprises, but achieving equitable progress requires attention to financial inclusion among women. Studies showed that challenges to access to finance for WOBs include:

• High mortgage and collateral requirements, which is especially problematic as women often lack title ownership
• Inadequate financial products designed to meet the needs of microenterprises and start-ups
• Cultural perceptions that women are less creditworthy, thereby heightening reluctance among financial institutions to extend loans
• Lengthy and opaque loan application processes, including difficulties in opening business bank accounts and securing auditing records
• Inconsistent definitions and collection systems for reliable gender-disaggregated data

Recommendations

Improving access to finance for WOBs requires coordinated actions by all stakeholders:

Government authorities should strengthen policies, facilitate data collection on WOBs, provide no-collateral loan schemes, and promote public procurement contracts specifically for women businesses.

Financial institutions must eliminate gender bias, evaluate loan applications based on business potential rather than gender, and design financial tools for atypical entrepreneurial landscapes like social service provision.

Networking institutions and associations should broaden membership, improve advocacy capacity, and effectively collaborate with financial entities to create awareness and build trust.

UN Women and other ecosystem partners are encouraged to increase research, awareness campaigns, and capacity-building programs to better position WOBs, while hosting forums to champion best practices and successes in women business financing.