News

Google Cloud Backs DXB Female Founders Event Series

Hosted at Google Cloud’s Dubai office, the series provides female entrepreneurs in the UAE with mentorship, skills, and networking opportunities.

Published

2 years ago

February 12, 2025

Nour Nasir

google cloud backs dxb female founders event series

The DXB Female Founders (DFF) monthly event series — an initiative supporting women entrepreneurs in the UAE — has secured sponsorship from Google Cloud. Hosted at Google Cloud’s Dubai office, the series will offer female founders a space to connect, learn, and develop critical business skills.

Kicking off today, the DFF series will feature monthly events, each built around a unique theme. Attendees can expect hands-on workshops, expert-led discussions, and real-life founder stories designed to provide actionable insights for aspiring and established entrepreneurs.

The first event focuses on Founder Stories, featuring Saba Yussouf, General Partner of Nettle Ventures. Saba, who sold her first business at 24 for £2 million and now leads a $60 million biotech company, will offer first-hand advice on investor readiness, key funding strategies, and what investors seek in a startup.

Adding to the lineup, Marisa Peer — celebrity therapist and best-selling author of I Am Enough — will deliver a session on overcoming self-doubt, building confidence, and achieving business success. With experience coaching top athletes, executives, and high-profile individuals, Marisa’s insights will be invaluable for founders looking to break mental barriers and reach their full potential.

The series will also welcome Nacho Floristan, Director of Generative AI Solutions Architecture at Google Cloud, alongside other accomplished female founders who will share their entrepreneurial journeys.

Faranak Farahmand Pour, Director of Global Strategic Initiatives at Google Cloud, highlighted the impact of this initiative: “Through our support of the DXB Female Founders event series, we aim to help unlock the immense potential of female talent in this region and contribute to the UAE’s ambitious goals for economic growth and technological advancement”.

Also Read: Taager Secures $6.75M To Expand Social eCommerce In MENA

Nicki Bedford, Founder & CEO of DXB Female Founders, echoed the sentiment: “DXB Female Founders is committed to equipping women entrepreneurs with the tools, knowledge, and networks they need to thrive. We’re incredibly grateful for Google Cloud’s sponsorship, which allows us to reach more women and connect them with world-class expertise”.

By offering practical skills, fostering meaningful connections, and providing access to top-tier mentors, the initiative aims to contribute to the UAE’s vision of technological progress, economic diversification, and a thriving innovation culture.

For more details about the initiative or to register for upcoming DXB events, head to the official website.

Related Topics:Dubai Google Google Cloud

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News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.