Another cornerstone in gender equality: Women Tech Accelerator launched by Standard Chartered in UAE
The UAE chapter of globally renowned Standard Chartered Bank has launched a Women-in-Tech global accelerator program named Womentum. In collaboration with Womena®, the banking giant believes this platform will fuel the growth of women-led startups in UAE.
The objective of Womentum is to promote social and economic development of women entrepreneurs in UAE via technology and innovation led entrepreneurship.
The launch program was attended by executives from Standard Chartered, and Womena® bossladies 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 the Bank’s CEO in UAE, Rola Abu Manneh and the startup community.
Currently the Womentum initiative is going strong in countries like the US, Pakistan, Nigeria and Kenya. With the inclusion of UAE into the list, the pioneers believe that the program will become more dynamic and helpful for female entrepreneurs all over the world.
According to Zawya, startups chosen for Womentum will be given the opportunity to visit Berlin and Dubai for the experience of a lifetime in two of the world’s most vibrant hubs. The visits will also include a remote mentorship period in between. The program will conclude with the final Demo Day Pitch in October, after a one-month long execution period. The winners will receive $160,000 in funding from Standard Chartered and womena®. Last but not the least, the whole program will be filmed as an upcoming season of the ‘Womentum’ documentary web series!
“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.
“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®.
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