Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development sanctioned more than Dh1 billion in loans for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) since 2007 across the UAE, the organisation said.
Entrepreneurs from Abu Dhabi and Al Ain received the major chunk of the loans followed by Dubai and other emirates. The organisation said that it approved 842 projects during the period.
Khalifa Fund was established to support and develop small and medium enterprises with a capital of Dh2 billion. A number of Emiratis have benefitted because of the fund, the organisation has said.
Abdullah Saeed Al Darmaki, the Chief Executive Officer of Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development previously said the Fund is offering many programmes for budding entrepreneurs with emphasis on training, development, technical support and marketing initiatives.
“The Fund provides various financial solutions with low profit margin for the profitable projects which serve the national economy through the Khutwa, Bedaya, Zeyada and Tasneea programmes to cover the small and medium sized enterprises,” he said.
He said the Fund strives to urge the government and semi-government entities to provide special privileges for the SMEs to succeed.
Last week, Masdar and Khalifa Fund signed an agreement for enterprise development with the goal of enhancing opportunities for Emirati-led clean technology entrepreneurship.
The two organisations will explore areas of collaboration in the growing clean tech sector in Abu Dhabi and will work towards fostering greater business development expertise.