Meta announces initiative to boost start-ups in the UAE
After being named the best country in which to start a new business by the latest Global Entrepreneurship Index 2021/2022 (with a score of 6.8 out of 10), beating some of the leading economies such as the American, British or Japanese; the Federal Government of the United Arab Emirates has strived to continue working on activating the entrepreneurial sector.
In this sense, the American company Meta - founded by Mark Zuckerberg - has announced this Sunday the launch of the initiative "Bloost with Facebook" (translated into English as "Boost with Facebook") in collaboration with the project "Entrepreneurial Nation" ("Entrepreneurial Nation") of the Emirati Ministry of Economy. Through this partnership agreement, Dubai hopes to attract and support new start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the country.
While Meta hopes that this will strengthen its position in the regional markets of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, several Emirati experts see the US giant's entry into the Dubai market as an opportunity to benefit from one of the world's largest technology companies. This underlines the importance of the race between the UAE and its neighbour Saudi Arabia for regional leadership.
As part of the "Bloost with Facebook" initiative, Emirati entrepreneurs and SME owners had the opportunity to attend a virtual workshop to improve their digital skills in order to launch business activities on platforms such as Meta. With this in mind, attendees received training in areas such as the creation of online shops, personalisation of advertisements and creative enhancement of social media profiles.
In addition, the entrepreneurs were also able to listen to the testimonials of other company owners such as Mamalu Kitchen and Project Chaiwala, who improved their performance thanks to Meta platforms, as well as the guidance of the company's experts on how to manage in today's digital world.
"We are excited to be part of The Entrepreneurial Nation initiative through our Boost with Facebook programme. We have an important role to play in equipping startups and small businesses with the digital skills they need to get back on their feet, and achieve results online. We are continuing these training efforts in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Economy, helping to further boost a thriving start-up ecosystem," Meta's director of public policy for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, Azzam Alameddin, told Al-Arab News.
"This will improve growth prospects, and attract new companies to work and expand from the UAE," added Hassan Al Sayegh, director of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Department at the Ministry of Economy. In this vein, Dubai aims to turn the country into a regional hub, home to up to 20 'unicorn' companies - start-ups that, without having yet gone public, are valued at more than $1 billion.
The Emirati programme "The Entrepreneurial Nation" aims to foster new public-private partnerships that support entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in establishing their businesses in the country, increasing their competitiveness and expanding into regional and global markets. All of this is based on the benefits of online marketing and commerce.
According to the project's official website, "Entrepreneurial Nation" is based on three different programmes. The first of these, called Skill-Up Academy, aims to develop the entrepreneurial mindset and skills of start-up and SME owners. Scale-Up, the second programme, hopes to encourage success stories and help Emirati entrepreneurs 'embark on their journey'. And finally, the Start-Up track platform, to "empower future unicorns by providing a comprehensive support system to unlock the growth potential of high-potential businesses", as the website reads.
Among the companies collaborating with this project are Emirates Development Bank, Enterprise Forum or Meta, among others.
The importance of this type of project lies in the leading role of SMEs in the Emirati business fabric. According to official data, the economic contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises alone is equivalent to more than 50% of the country's GDP and approximately 57% of private sector employment.
In addition, over the past few months, the Federal Government has launched several financial support packages to help entrepreneurs cope with the consequences of the pandemic, and to create a more attractive business environment for foreign investment - by modernising property laws, facilitating visa issuance and encouraging investment in digital businesses.