A decade after launching its Women in Tech programme, Web Summit is starting to see results—and not just in the numbers.

At this year’s Web Summit Qatar, a 7 percent rise in women-founded startups was recorded, marking what many called a clear signal of progress. Participation among female founders in Qatar alone jumped from 31 percent in 2024 to 38 percent in 2025, according to Dima Wahbeh, Deputy Country Manager of Web Summit Qatar.

“Globally, we’ve seen an increase in women’s participation at our events,” Wahbeh told Euronews. “Looking at Qatar specifically, we saw an increase in terms of female founders… it shows we’re on the right path.”

The Women in Tech programme, first launched in 2015, was designed to address the gender gap in technology and entrepreneurship. Over the years, it’s grown into a platform for mentorship, networking, and access—connecting rising female talent with global leaders in AI, business, and innovation.

That access was on full display in Doha, where women like IBM’s Justina Nixon-Saintil and Lumo Hubs’ Anie Akpe took the stage to lead discussions on artificial intelligence, access, and opportunity.

For Nixon-Saintil, the future of work will belong to those who don’t just use AI but understand it. “Real workforce readiness is not just about access to tools,” she said. “It means having AI fluency and understanding how AI impacts your role.”

To help build that fluency, IBM has been scaling up its free SkillsBuild platform, partnering with schools, universities, and nonprofits to deliver AI training that leads to credentials and, crucially, real jobs. “Seeing people move into new jobs because we’ve upskilled them… that’s where we see actual lives being changed,” Nixon-Saintil said.

At the Summit, IBM announced a partnership with Qatar’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to launch a global request for proposals under its Impact Accelerator—part of a growing commitment to workforce development through tech.

Anie Akpe, meanwhile, focused on inclusion as a driver of innovation. Through her African Women in Technology initiative, she’s spent the past 10 years helping young women across Africa get free training in AI and cybersecurity. The mission, she said, is to ensure women at every level—from tech labs to local markets—have the tools to grow their businesses.

“AI is not going to be a complete solution for a lot of organisations, but AI will be a tool,” Akpe said. “It will give you the opportunities that you need.”

She hopes the tech won’t remain exclusive or intimidating. “Innovation doesn’t have to sit at a table they don’t understand,” she said. “The goal is that they can use it however they see fit—to build a website, reach new customers, or grow their income.”

This year, one of the standout startups at Web Summit Qatar was founded by a woman who knows that feeling of exclusion all too well. Dr Golnoush Golsharazi, a molecular biologist with a PhD from Cambridge, started ScreenMe after years of being dismissed by doctors while struggling with health issues.

“That really pushed me to ask: what’s wrong in the system?” she said. “We don’t have sufficient screening. We don’t have sufficient research in women’s health. We deserve better.”

ScreenMe offers at-home testing kits to monitor the reproductive microbiome, aiming to prevent infections and fertility complications through better early detection. The startup was selected as one of the top 10 women-founded ventures at this year’s summit.

“The good bacteria act like a gate to your house,” Dr Golsharazi explained. “When that gate is broken, harmful bacteria can grow, increasing risks like HPV infection, miscarriages and unexplained infertility.”

The platform’s recognition was about more than a business pitch—it was a statement. “They allow women like me to stand up and say: I have something important to say and I want you to listen,” she said.

As the gender gap in tech persists, the tone at Web Summit Qatar was far from complacent. But there’s growing momentum—and optimism—that things are starting to shift.

“This is just the start,” said Dr Golsharazi. “The region will see growth in women-led innovation and especially in women’s health.”