Title: Behind the veil: the challenges and impediments encountered by women entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates

Authors: Rizwan Tahir; Mohamed El Baradie

Addresses: Department of Business and Management, Rochester Institute of Technology (Dubai Campus), Dubai, United Arab Emirates ' School of Business and Quality Management, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: Female entrepreneurship has now become a significant business trend in most countries around the globe. Nevertheless, relatively few previous studies (Itani et al., 2011) have concentrated on female entrepreneurs in Middle Eastern countries, where SMEs are perceived as the way for these countries to lessen their dependence on oil. The present study endeavours to research the female entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates and to examine the challenges and impediments to the advancement and development of entrepreneurial activities. Based on the results, some of the challenges that were identified as impediments to women entrepreneurs included difficulties in obtaining start-up capital, gender discrimination, lack of training and networking opportunities. Suggestions are made about how to bring about a change in the attitudes towards female and their entrepreneurial endeavours. Finally, limitations of this study as well as directions for future scholarly research are identified.

Keywords: women entrepreneurs; 5Ms framework; UAE.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2019.101397

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2019 Vol.11 No.3, pp.258 - 282

Received: 20 Sep 2017
Accepted: 20 May 2018
Published online: 05 Aug 2019 *

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