TiE Women MENA names five regional winners ahead of GITEX Global final

Five women founders have won their tracks in the seventh edition of TiE Women MENA, after virtual regional finals held between 8 and 17 September. They will now compete for the MENA title at the finals in December at GITEX Global 2026.

Three came through country tracks: Naglaa Mohamed, co-founder of P-Vita in Egypt; Lea Mehaweg, co-founder and chief executive of Maison Safqa in Saudi Arabia; and Anuscha Iqbal, co-founder and chief executive of Qanooni AI in the UAE. Rowan Alawi, chief executive of Trase, won the Rest of MENA track. Aisha Alyassi, founder and brand director of SCULP, took the Emirati track.

Bigger field, wider spread of sectors

More than 250 licensed, women-founded businesses entered this year, up from close to 200 in 2025, with strong showings in AI and SaaS, AgriTech and FoodTech, HealthTech, sustainability and fashion. From that pool, 228 founders were shortlisted and 46 pitched in the regional finals, where each track named one winner and two runners-up.

Judges weighed each pitch on the idea, go-to-market strategy, team strength, competitive advantage, product-market fit, financial objectives, and operational and technical viability. Every finalist was paired with a dedicated mentor who worked with them on becoming pitch- and market-ready before the finals.

The panels in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the wider region and the Emirati track drew assessors from venture capital, technology, banking, media and innovation, among them representatives of Nokia, F6 Ventures, 500 Global, JoVision, Homegrown Ventures, Global Ventures, Pact Ventures and the in5 Innovation Centers.

AI ran through almost every track, applied to legal services, construction, livestock health, prenatal care and community platforms. Sustainability shaped ventures turning farm waste into fertilizer, discarded yarn into premium textiles and sensor data into water savings of 30 to 45 per cent in a water-scarce region. Another recurring theme was products built specifically for women, spanning safe mobility, mental wellbeing and maternal health.

Pods and prize path at GITEX

At Expand North Star during GITEX Global 2026, each winner gets a dedicated pod to showcase her business and meet investors and other stakeholders directly. The programme is run by TiE Dubai and powered by official partner Nokia, alongside TECOM, Dubai Internet City and the in5 Innovation Centers. Five mentors, most of them TiE charter members, will keep working with the cohort after the finals.

Funding remains lopsided. MENA startups raised USD 150 million across 27 deals in April 2026, yet female-founded companies took in USD 2.5 million in the first half of 2026, or 0.14 per cent of the region's USD 1.7 billion in venture funding. TiE Dubai says it targets that gap through mentorship, funding access, visibility and a clear route from pitch to market.

Over the past four years the programme has supported more than 1,000 women-led businesses in MENA, curated more than 350 pitches and awarded AED 380,000 in equity-free prize money. Globally, TiE Women has drawn more than 11,000 applications from 62 countries and accelerated over 500 women-led startups. TiE itself was founded in Silicon Valley in 1992 and now counts more than 12,000 members, including over 3,500 charter members, across 63 chapters in 16 countries. Its Dubai chapter, set up in 2003, works with a community of more than 3,000 entrepreneurs.

Carlina Marani and Shameema Parveen, co-chairs of TiE Women MENA 2026, said the calibre of candidates and pitch decks was exceptionally high and the mix of sectors stood out. "There was a clear sense that these women are building businesses with the intention to create meaningful impact," they said.

There was a clear sense that these women are building businesses with the intention to create meaningful impact,

Alyassi of SCULP called the win a meaningful milestone for a company she is building from the ground up, and said the process pushed her to sharpen her vision and connect with a community of founders. Danial Mausoof, vice president of the MI segment for MEA at Nokia, said innovation thrives when diverse perspectives, bold ideas and entrepreneurial ambition come together, and that the platform gives women founders visibility and mentorship.

All five winners will continue one-to-one work with their mentors on pitch, go-to-market strategy and investor materials ahead of the December finals.