H.E. Mariam Mohammed Al Rumaithi, Chairperson of the Executive Board of the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council (ADBWC), chaired the first meeting to discuss the objectives of the Council's five-year strategic plan

H.E. Mariam Mohammed Al Rumaithi, Chairperson of the Executive Board of the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council (ADBWC), chaired the first meeting to discuss the objectives of the Council's five-year strategic plan, 2020-2024 and what has been achieved during the first half of 2020. A number of Executive Board Members like He Reed Hamad Al Sheryani Al Dhaheri, HE Moza Saeed Al Oteibah, HE Dalal Saeed Al Qubeisi, Dr. Huda Abdul Rahman Al Matrooshi, M/s Salma Aqeedah Al Mheiri, M/s Fatima Khamis Al MAzrouie attended the meeting along with Dr. Shafiqa Al Ameri, Executive Director of ADBWC. 

HE reviewed ADBWC’s second five-year strategic plan, 2020-2024 thanking the efforts of all members who have contributed to empowering women and strengthening their role in comprehensive and sustainable economic development as well as achieving the UAE's national economic agenda.

HE also pointed out that the plan is based on the Abu Dhabi Government’s vision and the economic vision of the Emirate 2030, explaining that the plan includes 3 strategic objectives with eight main indicators, eight strategic initiatives and projects and 31 KPIs to measure the performance of projects. Besides, she pointed out that the objectives of the strategic plan are to raise women's entrepreneurship awareness as a career path for active participation in economic development, and to increase their opportunities for participation in entrepreneurship through training, qualification, consulting and incubation of start-up projects in accordance with the latest developments and best practices. In addition, it looks at the future of entrepreneurship keeping pace with its development and taking advantage of legislative, technical and innovative facilities. It also aims at increasing women's business growth opportunities in the labour market, enhancing partnership opportunities and exchanging experiences among businesswomen at the local, regional and global levels to leverage productivity and product quality.

During the meeting, the achievements realised in the first half of 2020 were discussed as part of the plan, which focused on three key strategic visions. The first of which was to expand women's participation in economic development through entrepreneurship. Several innovative projects and initiatives are included such as launching Women’s Economic Empowerment Club and the project of expanding entrepreneurship among women as a career path. Besides, it included the award for the creative innovative project’s best idea through which the Board succeeded in attracting 11 participants to the award. The Council succeeded in implementing 46 sessions, workshops and advisory sessions for (3514) participants where the percentage of those benefited from training whose knowledge empowerment indicator rose to 93% thanks to implementing AI and e-trading programmes. Besides, the percentage of those who plan to obtain a business license was 3% in addition to implementing three introductory workshops about the ADBWC’s strategic plan. This encouraged 840 entrepreneurs to become members of the Council. 

The Council also discussed the second strategic objective of the plan, which is the women’s effective participation in the labour market by activating local, regional and international partnerships. Through the mutual visits and meetings, 53% of partnerships have been activated not to mention the cooperation agreement signed with Ajman Businesswomen Council as well as activating 10% of MOUs. Besides, an accord has been signed with Emirates Academy for specilaised training courses to businesswomen and innovators. The Council also participated in 4 forums and conferences like Ajman Businesswomen Council, Bahrain Businesswomen’s Society, Global Women Fashion Virtual Forum as a partner and supporter.  

The Council has successfully activated the initiative to support programs for licensed women working from home, for supporting them to build to build the women capacity within domestic licenses, acquire professional skills, business technology skills and follow-up in home licenses. These programmes also enable them to adopt a plan to develop and sustain their business. The percentage of women graduates of “Mubdi’a” licenses increased annually by 10%, while the number of creative participants in the training courses reached 216, in addition to a 10% increase in the percentage of creative women benefiting from specialized courses for the development of their businesses. With regard to the initiative that aims at expanding the marketing outlets for home licensing products, the Board has succeeded in concluding a cooperation agreement with the electronic platform “Akshak” (Kiosks) to facilitate the marketing operations of licensed women working from home, in addition to cooperating with the website "The Store” for the same purpose.