Business plans Archives - Lady Elizabeth Kelly & Co.

The UAE has the world’s most supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem: Here’s why the UAE was named the best place to start a business

admin — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:28:53 +0000

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February 22, 2022

Last week, the United Arab Emirates ranked first globally in entrepreneurship and was deemed “The Most Supportive Environment for Entrepreneurship” by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).

With one of the world’s most diverse and thriving economies, the UAE has ranked highly among several world economies over the past few years. 95% of the Gulf country’s firms are small and medium-sized (SMEs) or startups, employing 42% of the UAE’s workforce and accounting for over 40% of its GDP.

Unveiled at Dubai’s mega-event Expo 2020, the GEM report involved a survey with around 2,000 respondents across 47 economies. As a result, GEM determined the best entrepreneurial environments by taking several Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions (EFCs) into consideration, many of which happen to be the direct responsibility of the government in each country.

How did the UAE secure first place?

Aside from having no corporate tax and no import or export duties, the UAE also offers 100% repatriation of revenues and profits and up to 50% reductions in more than 1,500 government fees, making it an ideal place for business.

In 2020 alone, more than $1 billion was invested in startups across the Middle East, 35% of which are headquartered in the UAE.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi have become entrepreneur favorites with some of the most futuristic, world-class interconnected infrastructure, a diverse and multicultural talent pool, and easy access to funding and regional markets.

The UAE topped this year’s GEM report, scoring high in indicators like the availability of good opportunities to start a business, the availability of skills, knowledge, and experience to create an enterprise, as well as confidence in the ability to meet the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report evaluated several framework conditions, such as the availability of entrepreneurial finance, ease of access to entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurial education at school, government policy, ease of entry, research and development transfers, and social and cultural norms.

GEM found that the UAE had the highest total score by a clear margin, having improved in 11 out of the 13 framework conditions since it was last analyzed for the report in 2020. It also scored the highest of all 47 economies in four framework conditions and was the only country that scored as sufficient or better in all framework conditions.

The country’s performance on its governance conditions was the most impressive among its scores for the GEM report this year. On framework conditions “Government Policy: Support and Relevance” and “Government Policy: Taxes and Bureaucracy,” the UAE scored the highest among the report’s Level A economies.

The framework condition “Government Entrepreneurial Programs” was the second-highest among this group, marking a tremendous improvement in the three conditions throughout 2020 and 2021. This represents further progress in the UAE’s efforts to generate more impactful entrepreneurship opportunities and the government’s unconditional support for the SME and startup community due to the UAE’s vision-oriented, forward-thinking leadership.

UAE government initiatives launched to support entrepreneurs

Drawing from its success in fostering the ideal business environment for startups and multinationals alike, the UAE continues to encourage entrepreneurs from all over the world to start up their businesses in the country.

Over the last 50 years, the UAE government successfully managed to diversify its economy to reduce its reliance on the energy sector and ensure the latest and most innovative products, services, and solutions were constantly being deployed in the country. As a result, the UAE now offers business opportunities in various sectors, such as technology, tourism, health, and hospitality, among many others.

Some of the initiatives set forth by the country’s government include allowing the establishment of fully foreign-owned businesses in the UAE, providing funding for smaller companies, and attracting businesses specializing in technology.

The UAE also established the Entrepreneurial Nation project, which aims to aid innovative companies to help them better establish and develop their businesses in the country.

Another example would be the Operation 300 billion industrial strategy, the largest and most comprehensive plan for developing the UAE’s industrial sector, aiming to provide a push to SMEs. The strategy was named “Operation 300bn” because of its ultimate goal of raising the industrial sector’s contribution to the GDP from AED 133 billion to AED 300 billion by 2031.

What is Ethos Global Solutions doing to support the UAE’s burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem?

The Ethos Global Solutions, a company of the Royal Family of Dubai, has played an instrumental role in bringing international businesses of all sizes that offer innovative products and services to the country, helping them expand their presence in the region and promoting an even greater uptake in technology across potentially every sector imaginable.

Ethos Global Solutions also has its own accelerator program, based in Dubai, which assists potential startups looking to grow in stature, size, or in the Middle East to achieve their expansion goals. It offers the necessary early-stage assistance to accelerate the growth of startups and help them eventually become more self-sufficient down the line.

Over the past 16 years, Ethos Global Solutions has built several strategic relationships with firms from all over the world. As a result, there are now over 70 companies working under the group’s umbrella through investments or strategic partnerships.

The Ethos Global Solutions work is also in line with the UAE government’s numerous digital strategies, such as the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2017-2031, UAE Digital Government Strategy 2025 Dubai, Startup Support Strategy, Dubai Smart City Accelerator, and The Projects of 50, which include a variety of digital and entrepreneurial initiatives.

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Understanding the start-up ecosystems in US, Europe and Middle East

admin — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 14:21:35 +0000

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February 22, 2022

The US has by far the most developed ecosystem for start-ups, with a high concentration of the world’s leading entrepreneurs, talent, and investors in California’s Silicon Valley, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle alone.

London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Stockholm, among other cities, are turning out to be the magnets for new businesses in Europe, even though their start-up ecosystems still need more accelerators, incubators, support, and resources.

Not far behind is the UAE, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi leading the start-up revolution in the Middle East and attracting top global entrepreneurial talent to the region.

What makes the US the top global start-up destination among all is its right mix of venture capitalists, incubators, government schemes, and other factors such as cost effectiveness, skilled workforce, etc. A well-developed, growth-oriented ecosystem has helped more than 23,444 new enterprises find their feet in the country in the recent past.

According to the National Venture Capital Association, there are nearly 1,000 VCs and around an equal number of incubators functioning in the country. These provide the start-ups with seed funding, workspace, mentoring, and training to succeed in a highly competitive environment. A staggering 10,800 US companies received venture funding in 2020 alone, with the average amount of capital collected being $450,000.

Though the federal government provides no direct grants to start-ups, it extends financial support to them in the form of loans from Small Business Administration, US Department of Agriculture, Small Business Lending Fund, etc., thus meeting their emerging needs of scaling up of operations and market expansion plans.

Several cities, like Massachusetts, New Orleans, and Albuquerque, among others, are fast emerging as the affordable alternative to the East Coast or Silicon Valley to attract start-ups by offering the right infrastructure, low operational costs, a skilled workforce, and business-friendly rules and regulations.

The next most-favoured destination is Europe, which accounts for almost 36 per cent of all global start-ups and is adding a considerable number of unicorns, which are billion-dollar companies. Of the 99 VC-backed European unicorns, 14 were added in 2019 alone. Despite the fact that Europe produces only 40% of the seed-stage start-ups that the US does, European companies outperform their American counterparts in terms of bankruptcy rates.

However, Europe’s VC ecosystem is growing rapidly with the entry of US investors, who show a greater risk-taking appetite and give more late-stage capital to promising start-ups. Success stories of companies like Delivery Hero, Auto 1, etc., are bringing a cultural change wherein start-ups are encouraged to aim at long-term exponential growth by ignoring short-term profitability.

Giving the US and European start-up ecosystems a run for their money is the business-friendly atmosphere of the UAE. The Emirates, with its supportive government, proactive policies, and concerted efforts, is presenting to the world one of the best-performing ecosystems.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are particularly on global entrepreneurs’ radars as the federal government is attracting them big time with state-of-the-art infrastructure, relaxed rules and regulations, easy access to funding and regional markets, a diversified talent pool, etc. The UAE’s recent decisions to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of companies and extend long-term residency permits to tech start-up entrepreneurs have given a major boost to the start-up ecosystem in the country.

Zero corporate taxes, no import or export duties, 100 per cent repatriation of revenues and profits, smoother visa processes for employees, and a reduction of up to 50 per cent in over 1,500 government service fees are also a major draw for those who want to start a new venture.

The World Bank, in its Ease of Doing Business Index 2020, ranked the UAE as the 16th most feasible economy for business regulation and operation. On the criterion of “starting a business”, the UAE was ranked 17th out of the 190 economies. Of the 50 most-funded start-ups named by Forbes, 33 are headquartered in the Emirates. At least 35 per cent of the start-ups in the Middle East are headquartered in the UAE. These new businesses raised over a record $1 billion in investment in 2020 alone.

As a part of its plan to establish a new “non-oil” economy in the next 50 years, the UAE has launched the Entrepreneurial Nation initiative to extend all possible assistance to businessmen to help them set up and expand their businesses in the country. The UAE aims to become home to 20 “unicorns” in the next 10 years. The “Operation 300 billion” industrial strategy is also giving the SME ecosystem in the country a major fillip. The strategy involves setting up 13,500 industrial companies, especially those involved in petrochemicals, plastics, metals, food, healthcare, etc., over the next decade.

The UAE has a lot to do to catch up with the US and Europe’s start-up ecosystems, but it is fast rising through the ranks and positioning itself as the most sought-after global business hub.

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2021: A year of economic resurrection and golden moments for the UAE

admin — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 05:36:33 +0000

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December 9, 2019

The year gone by was special, for it brought to the fore the UAE’s resilience, strength, and vision to rise to the challenges thrown by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting global economic volatility. The country rolled out its biggest vaccination campaign in history to soon make global headlines by administering doses to 91.37 per cent of its population in no time.

The UAE’s GDP, which contracted by 6.1 percent in the forgettable year of 2020, bounced back to grow at 2.7 percent, and as per the World Bank’s latest projection, it is poised for an upward trajectory at 4.6 percent in 2022, thanks to the federal government’s several proactive measures and fiscal stimulus to keep the business ecosystem running and growing.

Giving a tremendous push to the economic revival and overall optimism was the commencement of the much-awaited Expo 2020 Dubai, the biggest global event in the Arab world in its 168-year-old history, in October. The first World Expo in the Middle East is witnessing the participation of 191 countries and over 1,200 companies, with an expected footfall of 25 million visitors. The mega event, which will continue till March 2022, is forecast to add 1.5 percent to the country’s GDP.

The speedy economic recovery also saw the non-oil private sector improve to its strongest level in over two years. The UAE’s IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 55.9 in November from 55.7 in October, the highest since June 2019.

If the UAE enjoys a unique position in the comity of nations and is one of the leading business and investment destinations, it is due to the farsightedness of our founding fathers for a brighter future. The UAE’s Vision 2021, launched in 2010 to guide the nation’s economic development, culminated last year. As a nation, the UAE celebrated its golden jubilee in 2021, which was declared the “Year of the 50th”. The festivities will continue until March 31, 2022, when citizens, government entities, and private sector entities will collectively chart a roadmap for the next 50 years.

The UAE’s visionary leadership remains steadfast in building on the rich legacy bequeathed to us by our founding fathers. The country has adopted a multitude of other development plans, including Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, Centennial Plan 2071, and “Projects of the 50” to fast-track the economic transformation.

The landmark decisions to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of companies and extend long-term residency permits to tech entrepreneurs have given a major boost to the start-up ecosystem in the country. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are now particularly on global entrepreneurs’ radar. With the economy opening up further and more foreign direct investment and business talent coming to the country, the year 2022 promises to be even more exciting and full of opportunities.

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