Mastercard and Female Fusion To Host Varied Activities For Women Entrepreneurs At Expo 2020 Dubai Mastercard and Female Fusion to help female SME founders to become more digitally savvy.

Mastercard, the official payment technology partner of Expo 2020 Dubai, and Female Fusion, a MENA network for women-owned businesses, is organizing a series of events -which includes knowledge-sharing, networking, and mentoring sessions, as well as workshops- at the Women's Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, in collaboration with Cartier.

The first in this series of events will be held from 10.30am to 12.30am on Sunday, October 24, exploring the theme of women entrepreneurs in the digital economy. Moderated by Jen Blandos, Managing Partner at Female Fusion, the panel will see Sarah Beydoun, founder of Sarah's Bag, Maureen Hall, founder of Coéga Sunwear, and Ioanna Angelidaki, co-founder of Instashop, discuss what skills women need to go digital.

Mastercard will also present its regional research about women in the digital economy at this event. Its inaugural Mastercard MEA SME Confidence Index has already showed that 81% of the region's women entrepreneurs have a digital presence for their businesses, compared to 68% of their male counterparts. In terms of a digital footprint of the region's women entrepreneurs, social media (71%) leads the way, followed by a company website (57%).

Ngozi Megwa, Senior Vice President, Digital Partnerships MEA, Mastercard, says that Mastercard continues to work towards breaking gender barriers across the world. "Today, the largest economic opportunity globally is the untapped potential of women entrepreneurship, which can spur unprecedented levels of growth if unlocked," she says. "Through our collaboration with Female Fusion, we want to take the opportunity to discuss topics relevant to women business owners on a global platform such as Expo 2020 Dubai, and engage with this passionate group of women to help them in their journeys towards digital transformation."

Blandos adds that the whole idea behind this series of events is to help female SME founders to become more digitally savvy. "Whether it's making full use of social media, streamlining their businesses to operate more efficiently online, or even selling online, we believe there is an opportunity for women-led SMEs to learn how to do it better," she said. "Female Fusion is proud to partner with Mastercard in educating and empowering our network in maximizing their potential and paving the way to sustainable growth."

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