Research shows that women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) demonstrate strong entrepreneurial potential and rising participation—especially in digital sectors. Yet, structural barriers such as access to finance, networks, social norms, and regulations continue to limit growth and scalability.

Still, progress is underway. Reforms, expanding education, and rapid digital transformation are creating new pathways for women across the region.

On Tuesday, December 16, 2025 (5:00–9:00 p.m.), Babson College Miami hosted MENA Women’s Entrepreneurship: Bridging Economic and Social Opportunities.

This symposium—presented by the Middle East Gender and Enterprise Network (MENAGEN) and Babson College’s Diana International Research Institute (DIRI), and sponsored by the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL)—brought together cutting-edge research, lived experience, and business insights.

The gathering celebrated and amplified the voices of Miami-based women entrepreneurs with roots in, or business ties to, the MENA region, while fostering dialogue among scholars, practitioners, and community leaders.

Join us on Wednesday, 21st January 2026 at 3:00 pm KSA / 12:00 pm UK for:

Strengthening and Promoting Gender and Entrepreneurship Research Collaboration in the Arab World through the MENAGEN Aggregator Platform

We are delighted that Professor Katerina Nicolopoulou and Nasreen Hasan Ashkanani will be presenting this webinar. The topic of this webinar is very relevant to many of us seeking to enhance gender and entrepreneurship research collaboration within the Arab world.

The MENAGEN Research Aggregator Platform is a collaborative digital hub that brings together research, events, and scholarly conversations focused on gender and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It will serve as a space for connecting researchers and practitioners, amplifying emerging scholarship, and fostering inclusive, cross-regional dialogue on gendered entrepreneurial ecosystems and practices.

JBVI Storytelling is an outreach and knowledge-translation initiative of the Journal of Business Venturing Insights, aimed at making academic research more accessible to wider audiences. Through visual, narrative, and creative formats, the initiative translates peer-reviewed entrepreneurship research into engaging stories that highlight key insights, societal relevance, and practical implications beyond academia.

Firstly, we are excited to invite you to the MENAGEN Cairo Study Tour to be held April 18-20, 2026. For further details, including the application process and deadline, please click Apply for Cairo Study Tour.

Secondly, many thanks for everyone who registered for the upcoming MENAGEN webinar on Dec 15^th. For those who haven’t yet, you can find all the details and register here.

Thirdly, we are also excited to announce a new MENAGEN project — the MENAGEN Research Aggregator Platform — led by Professor Katerina Nicolopoulou and Nasreen Hasan, and supported by Professor Haya Al‑Dajani. This platform will strengthen collaboration and showcase regional research on women’s entrepreneurship, enhance data sharing, and support benchmarking initiatives, ecosystem mapping, and the launch of three regional hubs in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt. Those MENAGENers who attended the Riyadh Study Tour will recall that this project was first hatched there! For further details or to join the project, kindly complete the form.

Finally, please join us in Celebrating Dr Christine Samy and Nasreen Hasan for their fabulous November 2025 achievements. Christine won the ISBE 2025 Best ECR Paper in Track Award, and Nasreen was nominated for the RENT 2025 José María Veciana Best Paper Award, and also won the ESCB Best Doctoral Proposal Award for RENT 2025. The blogs written by Christine and Nasreen can be found on the ‘impact’ page.

Join us on Monday, 15th December 2025 at 3:00 pm KSA / 12:00 pm UK for:

Constrained but Connected: Female Scholars in GCC Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Networks

We are delighted that Dr. Parisa Baig will be presenting this important study, with Dr. Abdullah Ijaz and Dr. Azar Mahmoum Gonbadi. The research explores how female scholars in GCC universities build and sustain networks in entrepreneurship and innovation despite cultural and institutional constraints.

Using a mixed-methods approach, the research team analyzed 4,613 publications (2014–2024) to construct a co-authorship network of 14,250 authors, complemented by 19 interviews with female scholars across six GCC countries.

The findings reveal a paradox: while women constitute only 25% of the network and are marginalized from central collaboration hubs, they disproportionately occupy critical brokerage positions that maintain network cohesion. The interviews uncovered adaptive strategies including conference-to-digital networking progressions and chain-referral systems, alongside significant barriers such as 15–25 hour teaching loads, gender-segregated spaces, and family obligations. We introduce two theoretical contributions: “mediated weak ties” (connections through trusted intermediaries) and “constrained brokerage” (bridging positions from exclusion rather than choice) that extend network theory to non-Western contexts. These findings offer vital insights for supporting women’s research participation and building more inclusive academic ecosystems in the GCC region.

MENAGEN is pleased to announce that the Diana International Research Conference (DIRC) 2026 Call for Papers is now out! The conference will take place June 26–29, 2026 at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, Johannesburg, South Africa.

The theme will be: “Transforming Futures: Women and Social Entrepreneurship in a Digital Age.” We are also happy to share that BGCEL will be sponsoring the DIRC registration fee for MENAGENers.

Abstracts submissions are due Dec. 9, 2025, and there is an abstract development workshop that will be held on Nov. 5th. 

With the new academic year well under way, we wanted to share MENAGEN’s 2025-2026 upcoming activities. We are very grateful for BGCEL’s ongoing sponsorship and support which enables us to continue offering meaningful opportunities for learning and research collaboration.

We are delighted to inform you that we are running the MENAGEN MPP again this academic year. The MPP is now in its fifth year and is designed to support the publication potential of early career and mid-career gender and entrepreneurship scholars working on gender and entrepreneurship research in the Arab world.

Since its inception in 2021, forty academics were mentored on the MPP and this year we look forward to welcoming 12 new mentees. Thanks to the continued sponsorship of the Babson Global Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL), the mentoring is free of charge.

We are thrilled to announce that two of our distinguished MENAGEN researchers have been honored with Best Paper Awards at the prestigious International Entrepreneurship Research Conference (IERC) 2025.

Many congratulations to MENAGENer Dr Christine Samy for winning the best paper award in the IERC Women’s Entrepreneurship track, and MENAGENer Dr Safiya Alshibani for winning the best paper award in the Entrepreneurship Education track.

During the MENAGEN 2025 Study Tour, we launched the Special Issue in the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship (IJGE), entitled Contextualizing Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Arab World. The guest editors for this special issue are MENAGEN Co-Founders and Co-Chairs, Haya Al-Dajani, Hayfaa Tlaiss and Sara Alshareef.

Submission Deadline: October 17, 2025

This is a unique chance to helps create positive change in the Arab world and beyond. For submission guidelines and more information, click Learn More.

Following the MENAGEN Study Tour, the majority of the Study Tour participants (28) headed to the Mohammed Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship (MBSC) located in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) overlooking the Red Sea. Here, they attended the IERC 2025 conference, Jan 21-23 2025, and presented their research in the various tracks. MENAGEN’s Haya Al-Dajani and Sara Alshareef were delighted to co-chair the Women’s Entrepreneurship Track with MENAGEN MPP Mentor Natalia Vershinina.

MENAGEN also contributed a panel session for the IERC entitled Women’s Entrepreneurship Research, Policy, and Practice in Saudi Arabia and Beyond.

Moderator:
Professor Haya Al-Dajani, MENAGEN Co-Founder and Co-Chair

Panel Members:
Ms Eman Alaskandrani: MBSC Alumna, Entrepreneur and Director of Critical Care & Outpatient Nursing Department and Change Management Leader at KFSH-D / EHC
Dr Sara Alshareef: MENAGEN Co-Founder and Co-Chair
Ms Modia Batterjee: Entrepreneur and Al Bidayah Co-Founder
Professor Susan Marlow: MENAGEN MPP Mentor and Professor of Entrepreneurship
Dr Deema Refai: MENAGEN MPP Mentor
Professor Natalia Vershinina: MENAGEN MPP Mentor and Professor of Entrepreneurship

The MENAGEN 2025 Study Tour, funded by the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL), offered 38 international and local scholars a transformative exploration into the evolving landscape of women’s entrepreneurship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Over 2.5 days, participants engaged with local entrepreneurs, attended professional development sessions, and explored the rich cultural heritage of the region.

Discover a collection of journal articles on Gender and Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region. Our resources offer valuable insights and research findings that can support and inspire your work. Click learn more to explore these valuable resources and share your own research with us.

We are thrilled to announce that the mentor-mentee matching process for the Mentoring for Publication Program (MPP) 2024-25 has been successfully completed! This year’s program brings together a diverse group of scholars and experts who will collaborate on impactful research topics in the field of gender and entrepreneurship across the MENA region and beyond. Explore the full details of the mentor-mentee pairs and their research topics by clicking the button below.

On February 25th, 2021, MENAGEN proudly hosted a groundbreaking global E-Forum titled “Challenges and Solutions to Overcome Crisis: The Role of Women’s Entrepreneurship Research.” Co-sponsored by the Saudi Ministry of Education Research and Innovation Deputyship, the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL), and the Gender and Enterprise Network (GEN), this event was held under the patronage of His Excellency Professor Nasser Aloqaily, Deputy Minister for Research and Innovation at the Saudi Ministry of Education.