
102.7K
Downloads
390
Episodes
As one of the world’s most influential business hubs, the Middle East requires expert attention. Business Extra provides those experts, as well as news and insights from The National’s esteemed team of business editors and reporters, who are on top of the markets, technology, the energy sector and more.
Episodes

Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
What challenges do women still face in the Middle East start-up scene?
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
The start-up economy is booming in the Middle East, but despite progress, women remain underrepresented, as founders and as recipients of funding.
While women-led start-ups make up 7 per cent of the region’s total, they receive about 1 per cent of available funding, Wamda statistics show.
In this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid speaks with three female founders in the UAE – Yasmin Rose of Rise Birth Centre, Yasmin Megerisi of House of Meena, and Thea Myhrvold, chief executive of Getbee – who share their experiences of navigating the start-up scene in the region.
The host also hears from Hynd Bouhia, a start-up funding expert, who unpacks the numbers behind the gender gap in investment and the biases that continue to shape funding decisions.