Dubai: The UAE is poised to make a big leap in entrepreneurship and become a global hub for entrepreneurs, said Dr Ahmed Belhoul Alfalasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Speaking at an event in Dubai ‘The Entrepreneurial Nation’ on Wednesday, a plan for developing entrepreneurship in the UAE to make the country a global hub for startups, Alfalasi said, the nation is already a regional hub for entrepreneurship attracting more than 50 per cent of investments into the region.
The country aims to become home to 20 startups worth more than $1 billion each, in the next decade, the minister said.
As part of a comprehensive plan, the ministry has designed a three-stage programme namely ‘Skill up’, ‘Start up’ and ‘Scale up’ to develop entrepreneurial spirit in the country.
While the ‘Skill up’ scheme begins in schools providing basic training in entrepreneurship, ‘Start up’ is training and support for early stage investors and ‘Scale up’ is aimed at targeting growth stage companies with funding and expertise in expanding their business within and outside the UAE.
The UAE enjoys a world-class environment that supports and regulates the entrepreneurship sector, with an integrated system to incubate entrepreneurial projects and accelerate their growth.
The entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE has been greatly enhanced through several measures and decisions taken at the federal level, which include allowing full foreign ownership of companies in all activities, providing golden visas for entrepreneurs, in addition to dozens of promising advantages and incentives.
With its new strategies, the Ministry of Economy seeks to increase the number of SMEs in the UAE and enhance the contribution of this sector to the GDP.
