Dubai’s Emirati Women’s Forum 2026 brought local founders and business leaders together at Madinat Jumeirah on August 27, highlighting women-led ventures connected to the “Proudly from Dubai” network. The featured businesses included XO Coffee Boutique, Home Bakery and Sadeem Café. (mediaoffice.ae)
The most publishable angle is the movement from personal or local concepts into recognizable consumer brands. Home Bakery, founded by Hind Al Mulla, began as a home-based venture in Dubai in 2011 and later developed into an established local brand. Mariam Saleh founded XO Coffee Boutique, while Hind Majjan leads Sadeem Café, described by Dubai’s Media Office as a specialty coffee concept with its own distinctive identity. (mediaoffice.ae)
The forum was organized by the Dubai Women Establishment with Brand Dubai, the creative arm of the Dubai Government Media Office. It gave participating entrepreneurs access to executives, decision-makers and public- and private-sector representatives, creating a setting focused on visibility, partnerships and growth rather than ceremonial recognition alone.
The business story is especially relevant to Dubai’s premium consumer economy, where coffee, hospitality, food and lifestyle brands compete through design, atmosphere and founder personality as much as through product. These ventures represent a newer kind of Emirati entrepreneurship: locally rooted, visually legible and potentially exportable through retail, franchising or hospitality partnerships.
The event also placed entrepreneurship alongside sustainability, innovation, finance, media, culture and the arts in its broader programme. That mix reflects how Dubai increasingly presents business leadership as part of a creative ecosystem rather than a separate corporate category. (mediaoffice.ae)
The forum did not disclose valuations, revenues or confirmed expansion deals. Its strongest verified development is the public platforming of three founder-led brands and the creation of new partnership opportunities around them. (mediaoffice.ae)
