UAE to support small, mid sized firms

SELF REALISATION: The UAE Ministry of Economy is finalising a study on SMEs that it will present to the UAE cabinet. (Getty Images)

The UAE is to launch a federal support programme for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and is looking to streamline similar initiatives that are run by individual emirates.

The Ministry of Economy is finalising a study on SMEs that it will present to the UAE cabinet, the ministry’s director general, Abdul Aziz Al Shihhi told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai on Sunday.

“We are towards the end of our study,” he said.

The new programme aims to encourage young Emiratis to work in SMEs and will focus on training and support rather than providing finance for companies. It will also identify potential synergies between existing programmes run by individual emirates.

The study on SMEs was initiated in 2008 and was not a response to the ongoing financial crisis, said Al Shihhi.

He declined to give a figure for the new programme’s budget.

The vast majority of Emiratis work in the public sector, which offers a high level of job security and generous pensions.

As a cooling job market threatens to exacerbate that trend, the federal government has sought to bolster job protection in the private sector by making it more difficult to fire Emirati employees.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

SME Sector ... Definition !
Posted by UAE Lover, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 13 May 2009 at 09:52 UAE time


we've have heard a lot on SME support in the past few months, but do people know that UAE has no definition for SMEs yet ?!? how can we support what we don't know ! how can we judge if a company is small or medium? is it by employee headcount? sales? turnover? assets ? and what are the thresholds ? is it 10 employees? 100 Millions? 300 ?
All other developed economies have clear definitions for SMEs, but we don't ! we only love to talk about it in the news ! and mix it with young people starting businesses ! SMEs are not Start-Ups !
actually in other countries SMEs count for 98% of the whole country's businesses !

government jobs is half the problem
Posted by Mart on Monday 27 April 2009 at 13:56 UAE time


The reasons few Emiratis work in the private sector are precisely because the Govt jobs are so fantastic - no pressure, good pay and excellent pensions. So why work in the private sector, with all the pressure and hassle that entails when the Government will create a great job just for you?

The government making it harder to fire Emiratis just exacerbates the problem - companies would be reluctant to take on staff they can't fire if they don't perform.

We'd love to take on Emirati software developers. Just 2 problems
1) very few Emiratis study computer science, they tend to studier "softer" courses - they mostly want to work in management, rather than working their way up from the bottom.
2) if our staff aren't up to it we can fire them. Why would we want to hire people that the Government would stop us firing?

We've got no reason to fire good employees, whatever their nationality.

If the government really wants to encourage Emiratis into the private sector, it must make Government jobs less attractive, and make employing Emiratis more attractive - and that means getting more of them to study engineering, computer science, etc, and doing away with any special protections against firing etc. No company fires staff based on nationality - you fire them based on ability.

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM