2025 will be the year of the female entrepreneur, says expert

2025 will be the year of the female entrepreneur, as one expert predicts a boom in women-owned businesses in the UAE.

That’s according to predictions from Dubai-based Helen McGuire, an exited tech founder, board member and author of the newly launched ‘Female Founder Formula’, a refreshingly honest and practical guide that challenges the conventional business playbook. Helen’s predictions support the major growth in the UAE’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, which, thanks to a wave of business-friendly policies and mentorship programmes, has seen a doubling of early-stage entrepreneurial activity, placing the country firmly amongst the top five economies globally for supporting female entrepreneurship.

Encouragingly, support for female entrepreneurship is extending to the next generation of leaders too. Creative thinking and problem-solving in schools is increasingly becoming part of the curriculum, which is helping to showcase the merits of starting owned businesses and ‘being your own boss’ for young people. With the UAE actively driving towards its Vision 2031 goals to establish the country as a global hub for technology, AI and FinTech, which is being bolstered by initiatives such as the launch of the ‘Entrepreneurship Hub’, and the Nafis programme, the groundwork has already been laid to encourage more people into taking this career path, where there truly is no glass ceiling.

Indeed, women-owned businesses are already on the rise; contributing AED 60 billion to the economy via the launch of 50,000 business projects in the UAE. Whilst men still dominate the landscape, women now make-up around one-third of entrepreneurs in the UAE – a number which has doubled over the past decade – as a result of business-friendly policies, mentorship, training and skills building initiatives.

To further encourage more growth in the area, Helen McGuire, who is a renowned diversity and equality entrepreneur, has launched her first book, the Female Founder Formula to provide a roadmap for those juggling founder and family responsibilities – male or female. Born out of a lack of clarity of the steps that need to be taken to finding business success, the book focuses on multiple areas from Finding Your Purpose: Discovering how to align passion with purpose and profit for a business that makes a real-world impact; Building Confidence: Tools and strategies to develop a resilient mindset and confront challenges; Practical frameworks to guide you through setting up, scaling and selling your business; The importance of the seven purpose principles: Commitment, Collaboration Knowledge, Authenticity, Persistence, Empathy and Vision; and Creating Impact: Learning how a purpose-driven approach can set you apart and attract talent, customers, and investors.

As the founder of two award-winning tech companies and among the 0.5% of women to have successfully had their business acquired, Helen’s approach for founders also highlights the critical role that purpose played in all her business decisions and how it has fueled her innovation, growth, and resilience.

Commenting on this, Helen McGuire, author of the Female Founder Formula, said: “Stepping out on your own can feel like the stabilisers are coming off – especially if you’re doing it against the backdrop of raising a family. There’s no safety net to fall back on, this is it, you have to make it work. Whilst it can feel overwhelming, it needn’t be, and the good news is that there’s a roadmap that you can follow.

 “I was keen with this book to tackle everything from nurturing your idea and writing your business plan through to the set up and scale up of your own business – and even attracting investment when you’re up and running. But one thing I wanted to get very clear on was that having a business doesn’t mean having to sacrifice everything else that matters. You can have both a family life and a business. And whilst yes you will have to juggle tasks and commitments, the door is firmly open to both – and it’s especially a great time for women to consider taking their steps to set-up their own business.

 “I hope through the Female Founder Formula that I provide a down-to-earth but game-changing guide for those balancing big ambitions with life’s many other responsibilities. Because building a successful business doesn’t have to mean sacrificing everything else that matters.”

Helen’s book is based on the roadmap she wished she’d had when she started out as a female founder with young children, a busy family life and just an idea. Taking into account both passion and purpose, the launch of the Female Founder Formula follows news that the UAE – as well as the wider GCC region – is predicted to see a massive surge in startup funding from the end of this year, and running through 2025, spelling an even greater opportunity for those looking to start or scale up their businesses in the region.