# Sharjah Women Impact Fellowship (SWIF) 2026

- **Type:** intake
- **Status:** closing
- **Cycle:** SWIF 2026
- **City:** Sharjah
- **Operator:** Sheraa
- **Equity:** No equity
- **Cost:** Free; AED 3,000 licensing support
- **Duration:** 6 months · 12 seats
- **Closes:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://sheraa.ae/SWIF
- **Page:** https://www.dxbstart.com/programs/swif

Sheraa’s Sharjah Women Impact Fellowship 2026 is a free six-month fellowship for twelve women founders: an accountability partner, Sheraa access, AED 3,000 licensing support, and a showcase at Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival. Applications opened 10 August and close 13 September 2026. It is small and specific. If you are not a woman founder in the seat they described, do not write in as a proxy. If you are, this is one of the few dated, named fellowships on the board this autumn.

## Desk take

Twelve seats. Act like it. A thin application is a waste of a scarce slot. Not a back door for a male CEO’s “women’s wing.”

## Eligibility

For women founders running an operating venture who want to scale from Sharjah.
- Women founders of SMEs or startups with meaningful traction (revenue, users, pilots or signed partnerships)
- Idea-stage ventures without customers, revenue or validation are explicitly not a fit
- Clear commitment to scale operations in Sharjah; applicants based outside Sharjah need a credible expansion plan (pilots, partnerships, licensing or setup) and must attend in-person sessions
- Application: personal statement, venture snapshot (problem, solution, traction, impact), Sharjah plan; shortlisted candidates get a Sheraa CEO-led interview
- The top 12 applicants join the fellowship

## Questions

### Can a mixed team apply?

The fellowship is for women founders. Read Sheraa’s rules on the SWIF page; do not invent a loophole.

### Is it equity-free?

Published as a free fellowship with a small licensing stipend, not an investment.


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Source: DXBStart — the working index of the UAE startup ecosystem. Canonical page: https://www.dxbstart.com/programs/swif
More machine-readable resources: https://www.dxbstart.com/llms.txt
Startups can request a listing at https://www.dxbstart.com/submit — free, editorially reviewed.