Dubai plans start-up help for expat entrepreneurs

A newly expanded programme by the Dubai government will enable expatriate entrepreneurs to apply for start-up assistance from the first quarter of next year, according to a report on Friday.

“I’m sure there are so many people out there, engineers and university students, doing things that can be commercialised and can add value,” Abdul Baset Al Janahi, the chief executive of


Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment For SME Development

(MBRESD) scheme told the Abu Dhabi-based The National daily. “We want to tell them ‘listen guys, if you’re somewhere out there, we want to support you’.”

Currently the MBRESD assists budding Emirati entrepreneurs for creation of new businesses by offering a platform for ideas and financial support, inspiring entrepreneurial spirit among UAE nationals, raising awareness of business opportunities and spreading business knowledge and assisting and supporting enterprises run by UAE nationals through instilling best practice and providing them with market opportunities.

According to The National,  small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for roughly 85 per cent of all employment in the UAE and contribute to 46 per cent of its GDP, recent estimates have shown.

MBRESD is still working on the legalities and branding of the plan but plans to formally launch the initiative before April next year, Al Janahi told the newspaper.

“We need to be clear as soon as we open the doors because I’m sure the rejection rate will be high,” he said. “We’re looking for genuine ideas that will add value to Dubai, that will add value to the UAE.

“It’s different, it’s new, something that the nation can be proud of regardless of where they’re from. Either they’re from Dubai, living in Dubai, living in the UAE, or even someone that comes through the UAE or Dubai and wants to do it here. It’s extremely open.”