The Sharjah Business Women Council (SBWC)and the Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD), launched a ‘single-window’service exclusively for female entrepreneursto accelerate business processing, including applications, permits, visas and licences.

SBWC is one of NAMA Women Advancement Establishment’s (NAMA) entities.

The NAMA-SEDD initiativeis in line with the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of NAMA and wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, to provide a women-friendly business environment and follows from a Memorandum of Understanding signed in October, to strengthen mutual cooperation between the two parties to support all women looking to enter into business.

The single-window service is a result of the efforts made by SBWC and NAMAto empower women and enhance their status as activate members in the drive to develop the economy. In addition to facilitating business operation services, the office will also highlight training the programmes and activities offered by SBWC tobusinesswomen in the emirate.

Reem BinKaram, Director of NAMA, said: “The single-window facility comes in the wake of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Summit, which NAMA organised in partnership with UN Women in December. The summit concluded with a host of recommendations that stressed the need to combine all official and community efforts to empower women economically, professionally and socially, and promote gender equality in the workplace.”

“This new facility provides the perfect example of tangible, practical support to strengthen women’s participation in economy. The latest statistics show that 10% of private sector business owners in the UAE are women,with investments worth more than AED37 billion.”

She pointed out that the single-window will encourage women to invest more into Sharjah’s economy, and cement the emirate’s status as a business-friendly destination for female entrepreneurs. BinKaram called on existing and potential businesswomen to make the most of this opportunity and benefit from the service.

The single-windowservice located at SEDD provides a one-stop-shop for a number ofoperations involved in the setting up of a business,as well as the issuance and renewal of commercial, professional and industrial licences, which will be processed with minimum time and maximum efficiency.

HE Sultan Abdullah bin Hadda Al Suwaidi, Chairman of SEDD, commended the continuous communication between his department and SBWCand the significant role they both play in serving the public in general and the investment and economic sectors in particular: “SEDD has made great strides in developing facilitates and incentives to attract businesswomen to invest in Sharjah in alignment with its mandate to overseeand regulate economic activities and the issuance of licenses in the emirate.”

He noted that the partnership would continue to enhance mutual services and strengthenan ideal environment for businesswomen, stressing SEDD’s commitmentto promoting competitiveness and achieving comprehensive sustainable development in accordance with the government’s strategy.

“The SEDD-NAMA partnership will help to realise common goals that are in tandem with the public interest, boosting the national economy and supporting the competitive edge of various economic sectors by creating a stimulating environment for investment. By doing so, the emirate will become the destination of choice for business,” the SEDD Chairman added.