Emirates NBD Group, a leading financial services institution in the region, has reinforced its commitment to women’s empowerment with its programmes to support female entrepreneurship and encourage social and economic development of women in the UAE. 

 

The strategic initiatives are aligned with the commitment of the UAE government, to the International Women’s Day 2016 campaign theme #PledgeforParity.

 

Emirates NBD’s Women of Tomorrow (#NisaAlGhad) initiative has invited women in the UAE to submit innovative and feasible business proposals via the bank’s social media platform. 

 

The entries will be shortlisted by a jury made up of industry practitioners, following which one winner will be selected via public vote. 

 

Emirates NBD will offer the winner financing to bring the proposal to fruition, with free marketing support provided by Expatwoman.com, official partners of the Women of Tomorrow initiative.

 

The bank has also pledged its continued support of the Emirates NBD e7 programme, created to support community projects, in collaboration with Promise of a Generation (POAG).

 

The year-long programme, which was initiated last year, offers network and development experience for young women in the UAE aged between 18 and 25, focusing on inspiration, training, connection and commitment to projects that contribute to the UAE’s socioeconomic development. 

 

Lubna Qassim, executive vice president, group general counsel and company secretary, said: “To echo the wise words of Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ‘We have moved beyond the phase of empowering women. Indeed, we are empowering society through women’. 

 

“Emirates NBD’s strategy supports the vision of the UAE government as the country strives to actively encourage and nurture women leadership. Our pilot Women of Tomorrow initiative will harness the potential of female entrepreneurs and aspirants to successfully create a commercially viable business, thus contributing to the long term economic prosperity of the UAE.”

 

Commenting on the Emirates NBD e7 programme, Qassim said: “We saw some incredible projects undertaken over the course of last year. These young women have proven that they are indeed the future leaders of this generation and have transformative ideas that we recognized at our graduation ceremony recently. We are also excited to welcome our new participants who will be given more guidance and structure as we continue onto our second year.” - TradeArabia News Service