The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center, known as “Shurooq,” has successfully concluded the inaugural cohort of the Sharjah Impact Makers Fellowship. This initiative brought together 12 female entrepreneurs on a developmental journey aimed at enhancing leadership skills and fostering project growth. The program’s goal is to support women-led businesses and amplify their presence within the entrepreneurial landscape of Sharjah and the surrounding region.
The fellowship served as a developmental platform for the participating founders, focusing on leadership and project management skills while connecting them to a network of investors, mentors, and entrepreneurship partners. The first cohort has laid the groundwork for establishing the fellowship as a long-term initiative that promotes the growth of women-led projects and expands their impact within Sharjah’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Sarah Al-Hif Nayimi, the Executive Director of Shurooq, noted, “The progress displayed by the fellows through the Sharjah Impact Makers Fellowship demonstrates a sophisticated level of maturity in managing their projects, enabling them to make informed decisions and tackle challenges with confidence. This illustrates the importance of having a supportive environment that can nurture and enhance this development. Our focus at Shurooq is to empower female entrepreneurs to scale their businesses and increase their impact, while the fellowship continues to solidify this objective as a sustainable pathway for supporting women’s entrepreneurship in its future editions.”
The selection process for the Sharjah Impact Makers Fellowship was thorough, ensuring that participants were prepared for the next stage of their business growth. This included evaluations by the Executive Director of Shurooq, a weighted assessment system, psychometric tests, and specialized interviews aimed at women entrepreneurs leading projects with evident progress and expansion potential.
The program adopted a four-dimensional methodology encompassing discovery, awareness, development, and depth. This guided the entrepreneurs through a gradual journey that harmonized personal leadership development with strategic enhancement of their ventures and broader engagement in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The fellowship’s journey was made possible through collaboration with a network of partners who supported various phases of the program. Execution partners included Accenture, Publicis Groupe, Orbis Terra Media, the Pearl Initiative, Kearney, EY, and Microsoft, each contributing expertise in leadership development, brand identity construction, impact measurement, and project growth. Sponsorship came from various entities, including Fikri Business Consultancy, Shurooq, Maim Foundation, and Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Real Estate.
The fellowship facilitated growth for the participating businesses, providing them with financial support through a grant of 500,000 AED from Fikri Business Consultancy. This funding was allocated to enhance the development and expansive paths of the fellows’ projects. Additionally, the fellowship contributed to enriching regional discussions on women in the entrepreneurial environment through collaboration with Maim Foundation, which is conducting a research study on funding for women-led projects. Fellows actively participated in this study through research interviews, with findings expected to inform future policies, funding mechanisms, and support programs for women’s entrepreneurship in the region.
Throughout the program, participants engaged in a comprehensive journey combining leadership development and project growth, featuring a significant leadership summit in Kalba. They also attended a series of specialized sessions and workshops in partnership with organizations such as Accenture and Publicis via Atelier Potentialis, as well as personal branding sessions with Orbis Terra Media. Dialogues with notable leaders in the entrepreneurial landscape included a discussion with Hala Al-Owais.
Moreover, the fellowship offered participants additional opportunities to develop their projects through Scale Up MENA sessions and deepened their understanding of impact measurement in collaboration with the Pearl Initiative. The program culminated in a workshop on policy readiness and institutional support, alongside a final session with Dr. Asma Fikri, an impact partner and supporter of the grant, summarizing key takeaways from the journey.
Through this experience, the entrepreneurs were able to enhance their leadership trajectories while simultaneously growing their businesses, alongside building new relationships and partnerships within the regional entrepreneurship framework.
This experience opens up new avenues for the female entrepreneurs who participated in the first cohort to continue developing their projects and strengthening their presence in the entrepreneurial landscape, signifying an upward trajectory for female entrepreneurs’ roles in shaping the future of entrepreneurship in Sharjah and beyond.