First Person: The entrepreneur helping Middle Eastern women enter the digital economy

Ms. Ataya is the founding spouse and CEO of Mumzworld, and has been connected the Board of Directors of the Dubai Chamber for Digital Economy since 2011. In a speech with May Yaccoub from UN News, she shared the challenges faced by businesswomen successful the Middle East, and wherefore she is committed to supporting them.

“I person been moving successful the integer system successful the MENA Region for the past 2 decades, and I person seen however it has gone done immoderate revolutionary changes. The digitalization of the planetary system is halfway to the mode the satellite is moving, but women stay precise underserved, and we request to bring much of them connected board. 

UNCTAD’s eTrade for Women is doing conscionable that: it's helping women by providing the accusation and resources that let america women to person our voices heard and our contributions felt.

I’m looking guardant to utilizing my caller relation arsenic a mentor, and sharing my knowledge, skills, and successes with different women successful the region, arsenic good arsenic creating tools, information, and resources for them to pat into. 

On a ngo to assistance mothers

I started my firm vocation extracurricular the Middle East, and I utilized those years to physique the skillset that would let maine to instrumentality location to the region, and leverage what I person learned to physique businesses successful this portion of the satellite and make value.

Mumzworld was built successful 2011 to enactment women successful the Arab satellite and assistance them to marque informed decisions for their families. Before, entree to products for them was limited, prices were precise high, and an online assemblage for mothers to pat into did not exist. We acceptable retired to lick these problems, and built up a concern that reaches the homes of much than 2.5 cardinal mothers, with the largest connection of prime products successful the region, and which has go the go-to destination for planetary brands that privation to scope Middle Eastern consumers.

Today we person implicit 350 staff, with implicit 6,000 brands and much than 300,000 products for merchantability connected the website: a successful, homegrown concern that has go a golden standard, and has created momentum for different women to win and make much jobs successful the region.

Conor Lennon/ UN News

View of Business Bay, Dubai, from the JW Marriott Marquis

A male-dominated industry

The e-commerce manufacture successful the Middle East is heavy male-dominated, from suppliers, to transportation companies and financiers. For a pistillate operating successful this space, this tin beryllium a large challenge: you person to usage your unsocial skills and abilities to manoeuvre done the firm maze and succeed.

The bully quality is that, erstwhile women bash win and physique scalable businesses, we springiness different women the courageousness to besides travel successful and commencement their ain ventures.

I person been helped by the information that my hubby and 3 teenage sons are precise understanding. Their enactment has been instrumental successful my success, due to the fact that an entrepreneur has to compromise, sacrifice clip and springiness a tremendous magnitude of effort, fiscal hazard and compromise successful bid to physique a palmy company.”