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Dubai | February 16-17, 2020

The two-day We-Fi MENA Regional Summit in Dubai concluded on February 17th, spurring action to support women entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa.  Global leaders, private and public sector partner and entrepreneurs from around the region discussed new steps to lower policy and regulatory barriers, pave the way to accelerate bank lending to women, launch innovative partnerships with the private sector, and provide training and networking opportunities for invited women entrepreneurs from the region.

The We-Fi summit, organized in collaboration with the Dubai Women Establishment and supported by the government of the United Arab Emirates, was held on the sidelines of the Global Women’s Forum Dubai which attracted over 3000 participants from 87 countries, including about 100 speakers, over the course of two days. During the opening session, World Bank Group President David Malpass, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and Advisor to the President of the United States Ivanka Trump emphasized the overwhelming advantages of full economic participation by women in the region and the need to support women entrepreneurship.

We-Fi MENA Regional Summit in Dubai concludes with an action-packed agenda

Organized over two days, the We-Fi MENA Regional Summit brought together over 200 delegates, including high-level Government representatives from MENA and We-Fi donor countries, leaders from the multilateral development banks, their private and public-sector partners and women entrepreneurs from the region. Read More…

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AGENDA HIGHLIGHT

Please click on the title of each session to view more details

February 16, 2020
11:15am
Entrepreneur Hub: How to Get Funded

Led by Ramez El Serafy, Chief Executive Officer of Flat6Labs (Egypt), Dany Farha, Co-Founder & CEO of BECO Capital (UAE), and Ambar Amleh, Chief Operating Officer, Ibtikar Fund (Palestine), the session provided entrepreneurs with insights from seed and VC investors across MENA, and helped startups understand what investors are looking for at various stages of company maturity.

12:00pm
Official Opening
GWFD Welcoming Remarks: HE Mona Al Marri, Chairperson of the Board & Managing Director, Dubai Women Establishment We-Fi Welcoming Remarks: David Malpass, President, World Bank Group Keynote: Kristalina Georgieva, Managing...
1:00pm
We-Fi Summit Luncheon

The We-Fi Summit Luncheon kicked off the We-Fi Summit program of activities that took place on the sidelines of the Global Forum. Remarks were given by Wendy Teleki (Head of the We-Fi Secretariat), H.E. Sultan Al Shamsi (Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for International Development Affairs, UAE), Mr. Geoffrey Okamoto (Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Finance & Development), and Mr. Amadou Thierno Diallo (Director General Global Practice, IsDB).

2:05pm
We-Fi Keynote and Game Changers

The We-Fi Game Changer Sessions introduced to the audience the power of female entrepreneurship, with a focus on the influence of women entrepreneurs from the MENA region.

2:25pm
We-Fi Plenary Panel

The plenary panel showcased institutions and programs in MENA that have developed innovative solutions to help women entrepreneurs overcome financing, market and policy barriers to grow their business.

3:30pm
We-Fi Ministerial Roundtable

The We-Fi Ministerial Roundtable was a by-invitation session that convened Ministers from around the MENA region with responsibility for entrepreneurship, commerce, finance, international cooperation, and women’s economic empowerment, together with the heads of International Organizations to discuss opportunities to reinforce commitments and collective action for women economic empowerment in the region.

February 17, 2020
8:00am
We-Fi Summit Entrepreneur Breakfast

The We-Fi Summit Entrepreneur breakfast gave women entrepreneurs the opportunity to network with peers, hear from speakers with relevant experiences in entrepreneurship, and ask top-of-mind questions to the guest speakers.

8:00am
WE-Finance Challenge

Co-sponsored by the Women-20, this session convened key organizations to discuss a joint plan of action to accelerate the number of financial institutions that are tracking their financing to women entrepreneurs. The roundtable brought together selected international development banks, government regulators, banks and other financial intermediaries, and international bodies that promote women’s financial inclusion. The goal of the session was to spur collective action to challenge the international financial community to commit to tracking and growing financing to women.

10:30am
We-Fi Technical Workshops

Value Chain Partnership Workshop
Investing in Women-led SMEs in Fragile and Conflict Situations

11:20am
Entrepreneur Hub: Women Leveraging E-Commerce for Growth

The ‘Women Leveraging E-Commerce’ Hub session featured inspiring MENA-based entrepreneurs at various stages of their e-commerce journey, with a focus on the unique opportunities and challenges they each faced in using e-commerce in the region. The discussion was facilitated by World Bank Senior Private Sector Specialists, Komal Mohindra and Meriem Slimane, and the entrepreneur panelists …

1:30pm
We-Fi Technical Workshops

Partnering to Accelerate Women-Led Businesses Growth
Women, Business & the Law Workshop
E-Commerce Clinic

3:30pm
Entrepreneur Hub: Women-Led Business Accessing Procurement Opportunities

Sammar Essmat, Gender and Private Sector Specialist, IFC, Hady M. Agina, Procurement Specialist of the World Bank Group, Elizabeth A. Vazquez, President, CEO, and Co-Founder of WE Connect International led an information session on how to access business opportunities via procurement for women-led SMEs, including tips and guidance on how to access, apply, and navigate key policy and procedures for Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) procurement opportunities.

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