Prime Highlights:
- Elissa Freiha transformed Womena into a storytelling platform and launched Womentum, a tech accelerator supporting female-led startups in the Middle East.
- She has received multiple awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Investor of the Year, and the One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award, highlighting her impact in the region.
Key Facts:
- Freiha serves as a Board Member of the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy since July 2021, contributing to regional economic development.
- Through Womena and Womentum, she has empowered women across the MENA region, combining mentorship, funding, and visibility to support female entrepreneurs.
Key Background:
Elissa Freiha, an Emirati-Lebanese-American businesswoman, investor, and activist, has become a prominent leader in the Middle East’s business scene. Born in 1990, she is the founder of Womena, which supports women by providing education, storytelling, and investment opportunities.
Founded in 2014 as an angel-investment network, Womena first focused on teaching women about early-stage investments and helping female investors fund startups across the MENA region. By 2017, the platform had enabled approximately 40 women investors to channel over AED 2 million into seven innovative startups, attracting interest from investors not only in the UAE but also in Zurich and New York City.
In 2018, Freiha changed Womena into a storytelling platform to have a bigger social impact for women in the region. That year, she also launched Womentum, a tech accelerator and documentary series that helps female-led startups in the Middle East by providing mentorship, funding, and visibility.
Freiha’s work has earned her many awards. She has received titles of Entrepreneur of the Year and Investor of the Year in the region and is regularly ranked among the most influential businesswomen in the Middle East, as well as lists of influential Arabs under 40. In 2015, she was listed in the BBC 100 Women, and Forbes considered her to be among the most inspiring business leaders in the UAE. Freiha ranked as the One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019.
The experience of Freiha, who grew up in Paris and became the leader of Womena, shows that a vision and action can lead to real change. Through Womena and Womentum, she continues to inspire women entrepreneurs across the MENA region, showing that guidance and storytelling can create both social and economic impact.
