Bahraini women are playing a leading role in driving the kingdom’s burgeoning reputation as a global start-up hub, according to Pakiza Abdulrahman, head of start-ups, Bahrain Economic Development Board.
Bahrain has the highest share of female founders in the world, with 18 percent of homegrown start-ups active in the kingdom founded by women – compared to London (15 percent) and Silicon Valley (16 percent).
Abdulrahman told Arabian Business the overall split between males females operating in the country’s start-up environment is around 50/50.
She said: “The split is nothing out of the ordinary because Bahrain, through the Supreme Council of Women, have worked very closely with different government and public stakeholders to empower women, especially in STEM education. There is a big drive and strong drive by the government here to empower women and to expedite and increase their participation into the economy.”
Thirty-nine percent of the total Bahraini workforce is made up of female employees in financial services industries, while females also comprised 33.2 percent of the kingdom’s managerial positions in the financial sector in 2018, according to the Central Bank of Bahrain.
And almost 70 percent of female business and STEM university students in Bahrain are interested in pursuing a career in the fintech industry, according to the 2018 Bahrain Fintech Talent Report.
“The population in Bahrain is very young and there are a lot of fresh graduates graduating into different fields and the female participation is extremely important to stabilise the economy, to focus on different roles and different programmes that could lead into remarkable achievements for Bahrain,” said Abdulrahman.
“Female empowerment is as if you are empowering a full family – she’s the mother, she’s the sister, she’s a leader in her field. The Bahrain economy is dependent on the local participation and females are almost half of that population so you are actually investing into the future of the economy and the diversification of the different economic sectors in Bahrain,” she added.
Pakiza Abdulrahman, head of start-ups, Bahrain Economic Development Board
However, despite the clear success, she stressed that nobody in the country is content to rest on their laurels. She said: “Female participation is something that we pushed for as a country for years and decades. It’s inevitable for us to push further female participation into the entrepreneurship sector.”
There are over 300 start-up founders in Bahrain, 130 of whom are Bahrainis – and more than 1,000 employees working in the start-up ecosystem. While the region has seen a surge in investments in recent years, with 564 venture deals and investments in 2019, totalling some $643 million, up from 294 deals in 2015.
“Bahrain is well positioned to become the gateway to the MENA region as a whole, given that we have an open environment for investment,” said Abdulrahman, who highlighted the work done by more than 20 accelerators and incubators operating in the country, which act as a launch-pad for start-ups.
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