Sharjah enables women to thrive as changemakers: Sheikha Bodour

PublisHer, the global movement founded by Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi to advance women in publishing, has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone Authority (SPC Free Zone). The agreement establishes a long-term framework to empower women-owned publishing businesses through expanded industry access, institutional support, and enhanced visibility across regional and international markets.

Under the MoU, SPC Free Zone will offer women-owned publishing businesses a series of benefits designed to lower barriers and accelerate growth, including special licensing packages.

SPC will promote PublisHer across its digital channels, collaborate on workshops, book launches, and networking events, facilitate media engagement, and provide PublisHer access to their Sheen Theatre for select annual activities.

In addition, SPC will circulate PublisHer programmes, initiatives, and news among its female CEOs and managers, and refer qualified entities to PublisHer’s community and initiatives.

Sharjah Publishing City free zone activity.

These commitments are reinforced by the scale and diversity of SPC’s existing ecosystem. Over the past several years, SPC Free Zone has consistently attracted thousands of new companies from more than 100 countries, with strong representation from publishing, education, translation, creative industries, commercial consulting, law, and other knowledge-based services.

The free zone offers a purpose-built environment designed to support entrepreneurs, including women-led businesses, who want to operate across regional and international markets. Today, it hosts over 9,600 companies in a globally connected business ecosystem, with this multi-sector network serving as a key part of the opportunities now extended to women publishers establishing their companies in Sharjah.

Sharjah Publishing City free zone activity.

PublisHer will encourage women publishers at SPC to engage with its programmes, feature SPC-based entrepreneurs in its international directory and success stories, and deliver mentorship and capacity-building opportunities to deepen their industry participation and professional growth.

Empowering women publishers through global connection and opportunity

Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder of PublisHer, said: “This partnership reflects our shared belief that women-led publishers play a vital role in shaping the future of our industry. By combining PublisHer’s global community and capacity-building platforms with SPC’s world-class infrastructure and diverse business network, we are giving publishing businesses based in Sharjah immediate access to regional and international markets, as well as the legal, creative, technology, and professional services that help ambitious ideas scale. Sharjah’s leadership in the global publishing landscape has always been rooted in expanding opportunity and knowledge, and this MoU reinforces that vision by enabling women to thrive as creators and changemakers at the heart of one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.”

Powering market growth and women’s leadership in publishing

The partnership is anchored in one of the most dynamic publishing environments in the world. The Middle East and Africa books market was valued at around $13.1 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach over $18 billion by 2033, growing at an estimated compound annual rate of almost 3.7 per cent. Within this landscape, the UAE is emerging as a key growth engine, with the country’s publishing sector expected to expand from about $260 million to roughly $650 million by 2030, and the digital publishing market forecast to grow at double-digit rates through 2033. Against this backdrop, Sharjah’s role as a regional hub for knowledge and content industries gives this MoU a strategic, long-term significance that extends well beyond the emirate.

This collaboration marks a significant step in advancing the women-led publishing economy, locally, regionally, and internationally. It reinforces Sharjah’s position as a global centre for publishing and entrepreneurship, enabled by entities such as SPC that champion industry development, and by international platforms like PublisHer that work to ensure women’s equal access to resources, networks, and decision-making structures.

By uniting SPC’s business-support infrastructure and multi-sector ecosystem with PublisHer’s global advocacy and community-building efforts, the partnership establishes a model for how cities and industry networks can work together to expand opportunities for women and strengthen the broader publishing sector.