BRICS Business Forum: On women-led businesses, Iran and UAE are on the same page

Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may have their geopolitical differences, but they found themselves on the same page at the BRICS Business Forum on Friday as member countries agreed on the need to build networks among women entrepreneurs and innovators across the bloc.

As countries across the region battle financial uncertainty in the wake of ongoing conflicts in Russia-Ukraine and West Asia, both Iran and the UAE weighed in on the potential of millions of women entrepreneurs across the 21 countries for building resilience.

“Women-led businesses across BRICS are increasingly present in sectors such as manufacturing, services, digital economy, agribusiness and creative industries. However, their participation in cross-border trade and investment remains constrained by limited market access, financing gaps, regulatory barriers and weaker integration into global and regional value chains,” said Zahra Rahaie, founder and CEO of Navak Chemipaksh, which is among Iran’s biggest pharma chemical companies.

Addressing the gathering, she also pitched for the bloc to create a B2B matchmaking platform for women entrepreneurs and focus on more integration. “Not just inclusion, but strategic integration,” she emphasised.

Talking about her experience, Rahaie, also the president of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Iran, told The Indian Express later: “Women entrepreneurs operating in challenging economies such as Iran that face sanctions have capabilities for frugal innovation. They have mastered all of the resources to drive highly sustainable innovations.”

From the UAE, Feryal Ahmadi, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, a government-owned free-trade zone and commodities marketplace in Dubai, spoke about the practical mechanisms that can help women-led businesses use the UAE as a bridge to enter other international markets.

“The UAE has developed an extremely successful model of their business model provisioning, which helps us all grow together,” she said.

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At a panel discussion on ‘Women in Business: Driving Partnerships on BRICS Economies’ earlier in the day, Anna Nesterova, Chairperson of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (Russia) and Development Founder of Palekh Watch, said that cultural exchange, driven by women entrepreneurs, is not actually a soft topic but a business tool.

“It builds trust,” she said, adding, “It’s important to get access to funding, and we need new mechanisms for funding joint projects in BRICS that are oriented towards medium and small enterprises, and women-led enterprises.”

At the session, which had an all-woman panel speaking to a room full of mostly men, it was noted that across BRICS countries, about 80 per cent MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are led by women or involve women in a big way, and focus on that segment could build resilience in the region.

While all delegations participating in the business forum had women representatives, there was a feeling that the representation of women-led businesses in BRICS should move “from symbolic inclusion to systematic integration”.

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Across BRICS, women are building businesses, creating jobs and driving innovation across sectors. The opportunity now is to strengthen their access to markets, finance, technology, and cross-border partnerships, said Mónica Monteiro, Chairperson of BRICS Women’s Business Alliance in Brazil. “We need to be present when BRICS member states talk about trade and investment and economy,” she said.

The BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA) is an official cooperation mechanism established in 2020 to increase women’s economic participation and leadership across member countries. It aims to unleash the business potential of women and integrate women-led enterprises into global value chains.

As the Chair of BRICS moves from India to China, Zhao Haiying, Chairperson of WBA’s Chinese chapter, underlined the opportunity to build networks and make them commercially meaningful through BRICS cooperation, moving from introductions to partnerships, and connections to measurable economic profits.

“We have the governance, we have organisation, we have network, we have the human right to do business. And this is a great achievement. But now we need to be heard,” Monteiro said.

Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More