Dubai - Decypha: With one of the most stable economies in the region, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a country with a 40% reliant economy on oil, has one of the more promising approaches towards enhancement of the enterprenurship scene. In fact, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent about 95% of all the establishments in the Emirate.
The UAE has the most entrepreneurs in the Middle East region, according to a study conducted by the social network of Linkedin.
In terms of year-on-year (YoY) the study labeled “entrepreneurship” as the fastest growing job title in the UAE. Furthermore, the country’s figures proved higher than any other county in the Middle East, recording a growth rate of 98.3% year-on-year.
In a 2016 report released by the World Bank, the UAE ranked 31st in terms of ease of doing business. It also ranked 19th in the entrepreneurial attitude, according to Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index.
Government Policies
The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, an independent agency of the Abu Dhabi Government, offers a variety of training and funding programs, according to the national.
In April 2014, the UAE, which has been the most dynamic of the GCC states in enhancing small businesses declared that 10% of all future government tenders will be given to SMEs, making it easier for all potential entrepreneurs to gain access to the lucrative public sector market, according to Mr Peter Feuilherade.
Mohamed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Global Initiatives is allocating a part of its projects to Entrepreneurship and Innovation in order to help ambitious and well-educated young people to start “their march on the road of success”.
The initiatives provided to entrepreneurs aim to train and supports 23,000 young entrepreneurs, and provide support for 3000 companies that employ more than 160,000 employees. They also train leaders from 155 governmental organizations from countries all across the globe.
Mohamed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum’s Establishment for SMEs development (MBRE) is yet another milestone which the UAE took in order to help young entrepreneurs.
MBRE’s mission is to foster the development of a flourishing entrepreneurial culture and a competitive SMEs sector to support Dubai’s economic development goals.
Its vision is to make Dubai as a global center for innovative SMEs. As for its roles, it focuses on policy advocacy, intellectual property, innovation and technology and design-oriented business.
While the UAE government is encouraging the startup scene, it is facing a challenge of 14% of unemployment among UAE nationals.The country also has a vision of diversifying from being an oil-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.This is deemed as critical for the government to focus on entrepreneurship amongst the youth to promote business activity into more knowledge-oriented sectors. Also, enhancing entrepreneurship is forecasted to create a long-term impact on reducing unemployment as compared to only focusing on increasing UAE national participation in the labor force, according to a report released by Emirates Foundation.
UAE 2021 will encourage entrepreneurship and nurture homegrown public and private sector leaders. By stimulating home grown entrepreneurship and attracting foreign direct investment, the UAE economy will ripe into a model of sustainable and responsible growth that will make sure of a long-term prosperity for all the UAE nationals.
A new class of entrepreneurs will be nurtured and supported with the help of practical programs, such as start up-incubators. UAE’s government will cultivate a healthy risk taking culture where hard work and innovation are rewarded.
Major Accelerators and Incubators in the UAE
TURN8 (Dubai): TURN8 was launched by DP world to enhance global entrepreneurial and innovation culture. Its target is to accelerate ideas that are commercial to make it to the market. Its key role is to search for new and early stage ideas in order to introduce them to the market through the TURN8 seed accelerator. TURN8 is comprised of a growth accelerator program complemented by a follow-on investment fund. The teams that join TURN8 are fueled by mentorship, investments and year-long business development support.
Flat6Labs (Abu Dhabi): A global establishment for digital innovation. It helps a variety of youth from UAE and abroad in order to launch their digital businesses in Abu Dhabi. It helps the idea at very early stages, the growth phase. Its main focus is digital and media content, including film production, mobile apps, and online education.
Flat6Labs provides entrepreneurs with seed funding, office space, mentorship, development workshops, and several other services from their partners.
Silicon Oasis (Dubai): A business Oasis that is 100% owned by the Government of Dubai. Its long term vision is to become the leading business incubator which supports “regional high potential ventures in the seed phase””
Dana Horska, the executive manager, told Wamda that that Silicon Oasis helps tech startups and entrepreneurs to set their business in Dubai through several areas including funding, mentorship, among other services. It further provides legal, marketing and accounting support.
IN5 (Dubai): A part of Dubai’s Internet City, it offers help to startups at early stages. However, it doesn’t fund them.
IN5 provides comfortable and equipped offices, and a wide network throughout Dubai, as large ad small tech companies have some sort of connection with IN5.
The ideal applicant to IN5 would have a few customers, functional product and some funding, according to WAMDA.
AstroLabs (Dubai): It is the only Google-Partnered Tech Hub in the region of MENA. Astrolabes community is extremely diverse, as people hail from 50 different countries.
The space features a Google-supported mobile device development lab, a training facility, meeting rooms, etc.
MENA and Entrepreneurship
At first glance, the MENA region’s entrepreneurial activity today seems robust. Activity differs from country to country, however, about 13% of the region’s working population are engaged in entrepreneurial activity, far more than in the US, Germany, or Japan, according to a report released by World Economic Forum.
Regionally, the UAE is the highest hub for startups, with 42% of the regions’s registered startups in it, followed by Egypt with a total of 12%, reported StepFeed.
For example, entrepreneurship and startups will grow in Egypt in 2017 due to the emergence of several innovative ideas, Fadi Antaki, CEO of A15 told Daily News Egypt.
The volume of investments in the 20 most prominent startups in Egypt amounted to $24.2 million, in comparison to the UAE, which amounted to $41.6 million, according to statistics showed by Forbes.
While the UAE ranks 19th in Global Enterpreneurship Index, Qatar ranks in the 21st, Saudi Arabia in 30th, Bahrain in 34th,Oman in 37th, Kuwait in 39th and Egypt in ranked 81st.
The entire GCC region is now working towards achieving a diversified economy, and while some countries are doing better than the others, UAE has been achieving the best results in terms of entrepreneurship and startup scene.
By Toqa Ezzeldin
