Over the course of the last few decades, the Emirate and city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has become one of the biggest business and financial hubs in the region. During that period, some of the biggest businesses from across the world have set up shop in the city, and it had enjoyed an economic boom like no other. It is particularly commendable since Dubai had never been blessed with a lot of oil like some of the other Emirate states and hence the ruling class had to support to business enterprises in order to ensure that the growth rates remained impressive.
One of the most important initiatives that had been started by the powers that be in Dubai was the support provided to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) when it came to ease of doing business. Over the course of the past decades, the SMEs have become a backbone of the Dubai economy, and it has now emerged that the Emirate is going to continue to support such businesses for the foreseeable future. The country’s economy is all set to enter a new stage of growth, and the government has stated that it is going to continue to simplify the process for starting small businesses. Additionally, the costs tied to setting up a new business by way of paperwork are also going to be reduced significantly.
The Expo 2020 project is another initiative by the Dubai government to give a bigger boost to the SME sector. Through the Expo 2020 project as much as AED 2.4 billion are going to be invested into the sector. Moreover, many more tenders are going to be awarded by the government that will depend heavily on the SME sector for deliveries. The Chief Executive Officer of Dubai SME, Abdulbaset Al Janahi, stated,
Dubai offers a unique model for creating a vibrant SME sector. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has set ambitious development goals in the 50 Year Charter including the establishment of the world’s first virtual trade zone targeting 100,000 companies.
