How to start a business for women? The management of the RAKEZ Free Zone in Ras Al Khaimah provides the answer to this question – with the help of their Businesswomen Package, intended exclusively for business women. So let's take a look at what it is and how it can help to become a successful lady-entrepreneur.
Businesswomen Package in RAKEZ free zone
RAKEZ Free Zone has launched their new product – Businesswomen Package, a unique offer for business women in the UAE. Now it is easier than ever for a woman to start a business in this free zone. Having a great idea and a starting capital of only 6,200 AED (the minimum government costs of a package for one year), a woman can start her own small business. Here they offer two types of options – for one year and three years. A package for three years is even more profitable than that for one year since its price includes one visa for a foreign investor (government costs are about 4000 AED). Depending on the requirements, one can get a Commercial, E-Commerce, General Trading, Service, Educational Media, Individual, and Freelancer license. Just like in other offers from RAKEZ free zone, all local infrastructure becomes available to young women entrepreneurs – workstations, offices, warehouses, land plots, etc. You can check the full description of this new package for women-entrepreneurs from RAKEZ free zone at their official website: https://rakez.com/promotions/businesswomen.
As in the general case, the process of registering a small business and launching a new company for women entrepreneurs looks quite simple:
- Collect and submit documents. At this stage, you must collect a standard set of documents for registration of a new legal entity/private entrepreneur status, which slightly differs depending on the type of license and company form selected. Also, during the registration process, one has to visit the UAE at least once to sign the documents in person.
- Pay the registration fee. Depending on the selected package, a woman-entrepreneur pays the related government fees.
- Get a license. After all the administrative procedures are completed, a business-lady receives her license. After that she can start the work.
- Get a visa. Businesswomen package provides the possibility of obtaining a residence visa for a female entrepreneur.
It should be noted that you can go through this whole process by yourself – choose a bank to open an account, submit documents, apply for a visa, and a license. It will take a lot of time since you will have to deal with all the issues, besides you can make mistakes in process and documents, and this will slow down your registration even more. Therefore it is and safer to entrust this to a consulting company. Our company provides services on company registration and obtaining licenses in free zones including RAKEZ. You can contact our specialists using this contact form, or request a callback.
Due to historical reasons, women are poorly represented in the Middle East business sector, but the authorities of the RAKEZ Free Zone have taken a course to smooth out this situation. Women can and will do business here since all the necessary conditions are created for this. To solve this problem, the leadership of the free zone held special events attended by young women entrepreneurs. Their goal was to identify and study the issues faced by young business women. Based on the results of this work, they proposed a Businesswomen package, which is intended to maximize the potential of women in business. There is a gender imbalance in business in the Middle East, and it will continue for some time, but the changes have already begun, and part of such changes - the Businesswomen package in RAKEZ. Besides, several organizations provide their programs for female entrepreneurs, for example, Abu Dhabi business women council founded by Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak.
Some interesting facts about women entrepreneurs
- Women businesses are growing faster year to year. According to official US statistics, women-owned businesses are growing five times faster than the average in the country. The total number of new companies owned by women is increasing as well. Thus, in 2018, at least 20% of all startups had women-founders. Comparing to the Fortune 500 ranking, where women run only 4% of the companies, progress is obvious.
- Crowdsourcing campaigns developed by women are more successful than those developed by men; therefore they collect more money. When it comes to the process of attracting investment in business, it is easier for men to find funds for their project, but platforms such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter have provided women with new opportunities in this issue. Their crowdsourcing campaigns are much more effective than men's.
- Women start a business with a lower initial capital. According to statistics, women manage to start a business with 50% less starting capital than men. In this regard, in many cities and regions of the world there are special programs intended for beginning business women. One of those is the Businesswomen package from RAKEZ free zone in the UAE
How can a woman become an entrepreneur in the UAE?
The UAE has consistently held a leading position in world ratings of ease of doing business. Local authorities are steadily working to provide the most attractive environment for investors from all over the world, and now they have concentrated their efforts on attracting active and initiative women entrepreneurs to the country. The businesswomen package offers all the same conditions as the standard package for a corporate investor, but at the same time, the costs of registering a business are lower, so women get an additional competitive advantage, thus as you can see being a woman is advantageous for doing business here. Affordable types of licenses cover the most popular types of activities traditionally held by women entrepreneurs. Even a mom with a child and a housewife can easily start her own small online business from some interesting idea without leaving home, having received a freelance license and having some interesting idea.
What business is the best for a woman in the UAE?
Commercial, E-Commerce, General Trading, Service, Educational Media, Individual and Freelancer licenses are available as part of the businesswomen package. Accordingly, it is most profitable to engage in these types of activities here. In other areas of business, women entrepreneurs fall under general requirements, which by the way also differ favorably even from other UAE free zones in terms of price-opportunity ratio.
What are opportunities for a business woman in the UAE?
Having obtained the desired license, a business woman gets access to the entire infrastructure of the free zone: office premises, warehouses, parking places, shops, various services, etc. Like any other resident of the free zone, a female entrepreneur can freely conduct business in the jurisdiction, as well as with other countries. Here you can also use local banking services. A resident visa, which the investor receives, provides the right to move around the country and travel abroad freely. All this, together with a stable and predictable business environment, as well as the steady and steady growth of the local market, provide excellent opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the UAE.
Who’s the wealthiest business woman in the world?
As of 2018, according to Forbes rating, the name of Mrs. Alice Walton is among the wealthiest and the most powerful people of the world. With a total capital of almost $45 billion, she is at the 18th rating position having the biggest stats among women. Alice Walton is the daughter of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. Although she is the head of the family foundation, Alice is not involved in managing this business. Mrs. Walton is focused on the field of art. Back in 2011, she has opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The total cost of her personal art collection is not less than hundreds of millions of dollars.
What are the examples of famous business women in the UAE?
Here is the list of famous businesswomen in the UAE, showing in practice how profitable it is for a woman to run a company here.
- Alanoud Badr. Alanoud Badr's area of interest is garments and fashion. Her brand Lady Fozaza continues to gain popularity around the world due to the original vision of fashion and exciting design solutions. Alanoud works as the chief designer at Lady Fozaza, and consults wealthy and famous UAE residents on fashion and beauty issues.
- Ambareen Musa. Who said that finances are a field of activity for men only. Ambareen Musa, founder, and CEO of Souqalmal.com, refutes this claim. Ambareen was born in Mauritius, but she runs her business in Dubai. Since the moment of its founding, Souqalmal.com has become a recognized portal for evaluating and comparing financial services in the region. Now this business is already represented in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and in the future will go beyond the GCC region.
- Nayla AL Khaja. Nayla is the first woman director in the country; she has founded and owns D-SEVEN production company. Using the available opportunities, Nayla actively works on showing the existing social problems, women's rights issues and other humanitarian topics in her movies. Nayla has already received several awards for her work in this industry.
- Sisters Zaina & Rania Kanaan. Two sisters, Zaina & Rania Kanaan, founded the successful cycling business in Dubai – Chari Cycles. Their company is quite popular thanks to the original idea – they bring old bicycles back to life. Their business concept has become so popular that Kanaan sisters receive help from around the world.
- Nadine du Toit. Nadine has launched a successful GloryGirl Fitness business project in Dubai. Her brainchild is a system for selecting personal programs for fitness and training. This includes not only classes in a fitness studio, but also beach exercises, horse riding, and even snowboarding. After moving to Dubai, Nadine began to gain weight. Her personal experience and desire to help other women cope with this problem formed the basis of this business.
