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With little support and no bankruptcy laws in the region, the UAE and the GCC are potential minefields for entrepreneurs. But Visa's Raghav Lal insists that all hurdles can be jumped with the right attitude and know-how.

In another life, raghav lal could have been a spin doctor or empowering life coach. The head of global small business for Visa Inc brims with positivity while waxing lyrical about entrepreneurship in the Middle East.

And he immediately rebuffs any suggestion that launching a venture in this region during tough economic times is tantamount to accepting an arduous challenge. Even statistics revealing a mere twenty percent survival rate for start-ups fails to change his mind.

"It's frankly open season for all types of businesses to be here and thrive," he says confidently. "A lot of businesses are formulated and founded in economic turmoil because this is where opportunity comes about and this is where the entrepreneurial spirit drives through."

Such talk is expected from a man charged with overseeing the small-to-medium (SME) business of credit card company Visa. The division provides debit and credit cards for cash-flow purposes to companies with moderate turnovers and small employee numbers. Depending on the cards, business owners can access capital instantly or over a long-term period.

Lal, looking relaxed in a smart black suit, pale blue tie and white shirt, insists that recent demand in this region for Visa Business products points to a market rich with entrepreneurial talent. "To give you some statistics, I look at the World Bank and see a report telling us we have 80 percent of all employers in the Middle East coming from the SME sector," he says with a slight American twang.

"If you take that down specifically to the UAE, 86 percent of the employers are SMEs. It tells me that the small business and entrepreneurial spirit is alive and thriving. From the same report, it says there are close to 208,000 SMEs in the UAE."

Many small and medium sized businesses in this region there may be, but finding ones that have endured few trials and tribulations during the downturn is tricky.

Like most regions, the Middle East has shed thousands of jobs to cope with the harsh realities of the economic crisis. A recent poll carried out by research organisation YouGov for The National newspaper found that one in ten people had lost their jobs during the past six months. The construction and property sectors were hardest hit, with 44 and 41 percent of respondents respectively saying they knew someone who had been affected.

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