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Women Empowered: Transnational Youth Entrepreneurship Conference to Be Held at NYU Abu Dhabi

Student-led conference will provide a unique networking opportunity for women in the UAE

Press Release

As part of its efforts to promote female leadership and empowerment, the Women’s Leadership Network at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will host its second annual student-led conference on Friday, November 17, from 9:30am to 3pm.

The conference, titled Women Empowered: Transnational Youth Entrepreneurship, is open to the public and will explore the topic of female entrepreneurship by bringing together professionals, students, faculty and community members, and women groups in the UAE.

The conference will serve as a platform for women to celebrate their identity, share experiences and learn from each other’s professional backgrounds. It will provide a unique networking opportunity for women from all around the world to collaborate on entrepreneurial ventures.

"The places we find ourselves rouse us to investigate the nature of things from a particularly local lens with far-reaching influences. Thus, the diversity and growth of Abu Dhabi has inspired us to discuss the transnational entrepreneurial aspect of women empowerment.”

“In addition, New York University Abu Dhabi is a fitting place for this conversation to take place in relation to today's youth, a group that plays an impressive role in empowering itself and the community," said Hafsa Ahmed, conference chair and NYU Abu Dhabi Class of 2020 student.

Speaking at the conference will be Noor Shamma, the founder of the Postcard Initiative and the head of Communications and Public Affairs at the Paris-Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi.  Launched in 2015, the Postcard Initiative is endorsed by Noor Dubai Foundation and is an ongoing initiative dedicated to restoring the gift of sight. The Postcard Initiative has helped restore the sight of over 1500 people in developing countries.

Also present will be Nour  Al-Hassan, the founder and CEO of Tarjama, a leading translation company based in the United Arab Emirates, with offices extending across the region. Nour is a staunch advocate of women’s empowerment and Tarjama’s high impact business model is a reflection of this passion.  The model involves training, hiring, and promoting women who might not otherwise have been able to enter the workforce.

The third speaker is Victoria Blinova, graduate of NYU Abu Dhabi with a background in social research and public policy. An avid world-explorer, Victoria speaks four languages and has studied, worked and lived in Russia, Cyprus, the United States, Australia, Spain, Argentina and the UAE. Victoria is passionate about first-hand learning through interaction with people, she has lived with as a cultural exchange student with American, Emirati and Palestinian families. Interested in the GCC and the issue of women’s empowerment, Victoria has learned multiple dialects of Arabic and has conducted research on women in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.