UK entrepreneur launches Dubai AI Campus’s first female-founder accelerator

Scottish business leader Veenoo Sharma, Founder and President of The Power Diaspora Forum (TPDF), has launched a new international pathway for female entrepreneurs into Dubai’s rapidly growing AI, investment and business ecosystem.

SHE Leads with AI is Dubai AI Campus’s first female-founder accelerator, with places fully funded for 30 women as part of a six-day programme delivered at the Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC) Innovation Hub.

Sharma, who is from Edinburgh and was recently named Diaspora Entrepreneurship Advisor to the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network, said:

“I wanted to create a programme aimed at exceptional female entrepreneurs building businesses with real international potential. SHE Leads with AI also creates a direct pathway from the UK into Dubai’s AI, investment and business ecosystem, and gives founders the opportunity to build relationships and explore markets that might otherwise feel difficult to access.”

The initiative follows TPDF’s recent Women in Power roundtable at the United Nations in Geneva, where senior figures from politics, business, diplomacy and public life came together to examine barriers affecting women’s progress in enterprise and leadership and discuss practical solutions.

Sharma said:

“Our conversations in Geneva reinforced something very important: discussing the barriers facing women is not enough. We also have to build the pathways that help women overcome them. SHE Leads with AI is about turning dialogue into delivery.”

During the six-day SHE Leads with AI programme, founders will develop their understanding of AI and its application within their businesses, while receiving investor-readiness support and building relationships across the DIFC ecosystem.

Participants will also engage with investors, VCs, family offices, mentors and partners, with the programme culminating in a live investor showcase.

The programme forms part of TPDF’s wider international work connecting women across business, politics, investment and diplomacy and creating practical routes to capital, influence and international opportunity.

SHE Leads with AI begins on 16 November 2026. Applications are open internationally, with Sharma particularly encouraging UK female founders to apply.

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