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.
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