At BRICS Business Forum, Iran and UAE align on backing women-led businesses

Iran and the United Arab Emirates, despite their geopolitical differences, took the same position at the BRICS Business Forum on Friday, as member countries converged on the need to build networks linking women entrepreneurs and innovators across the bloc.

With economies in the region navigating financial uncertainty amid the continuing conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia, both countries pointed to the potential of women entrepreneurs across the grouping's 21 countries to strengthen resilience.

Zahra Rahaie, founder and CEO of Navak Chemipaksh, one of Iran's largest pharmaceutical chemical firms, said women-led businesses in BRICS are increasingly visible in manufacturing, services, the digital economy, agribusiness and creative industries. Their participation in cross-border trade and investment, however, remains limited by restricted market access, financing gaps, regulatory hurdles and weak integration into global and regional value chains.

Rahaie, who also heads the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Iran, called for a business-to-business matchmaking platform for women entrepreneurs and for deeper integration. "Not just inclusion, but strategic integration," she said. Speaking about her own experience, she noted that women running enterprises in sanction-hit economies such as Iran have developed a capacity for frugal innovation and sustainable solutions.

From the UAE, Feryal Ahmadi, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, a government-owned free-trade zone and commodities marketplace, described practical mechanisms that could help women-led businesses use the UAE as a bridge into other international markets. She said the UAE has built a highly successful model of business provisioning that allows firms to grow together.

At a panel discussion titled 'Women in Business: Driving Partnerships on BRICS Economies', Anna Nesterova, chairperson of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance's Russian chapter and development founder of Palekh Watch, argued that cultural exchange driven by women entrepreneurs is not a soft subject but a business tool. "It builds trust," she said, adding that access to funding matters and that new mechanisms are needed to finance joint BRICS projects aimed at medium and small enterprises and women-led ventures.

The session, an all-woman panel addressing a room that was mostly male, heard that about 80 per cent of micro, small and medium enterprises across BRICS countries are led by women or involve them substantially, and that focusing on this segment could build regional resilience. While every delegation at the forum included women representatives, participants felt the representation of women-led businesses in BRICS should shift from symbolic inclusion to systematic integration.

Mónica Monteiro, chairperson of the alliance's Brazilian chapter, said women across BRICS are building businesses, creating jobs and driving innovation, and that the priority now is to widen their access to markets, finance, technology and cross-border partnerships. "We need to be present when BRICS member states talk about trade and investment and economy," she said, adding that the bloc now has governance, organisation and networks, but that women need to be heard.

The BRICS Women's Business Alliance was established in 2020 as an official cooperation mechanism to expand women's economic participation and leadership and to integrate women-led enterprises into global value chains. With the BRICS chairship passing from India to China, Zhao Haiying, chairperson of the alliance's Chinese chapter, stressed the chance to build networks that are commercially meaningful, moving from introductions to partnerships and from connections to measurable economic returns.