The UAE has been ranked first in the in Middle East and fourth globally in the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2020.
According to the index produced by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the UAE moved up one place from the previous year and outperformed many of the major global economies such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Japan and South Korea.
The UAE also achieved advanced rankings in many of the sub-indicators including being ranked second in how the country responded to the coronavirus pandemic and and its impact on the entrepreneurial sector.
The UAE also ranked high on its entrepreneurial infrastructure and R&D.
Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri (pictured below), UAE Minister of Economy, said that the achievement is a matter of “great pride”, and “indicates the success of national efforts made over the past decade to develop the country’s entrepreneurship sector”.
He added: “Today, the UAE has a world-leading experience in supporting and organiding the entrepreneurship sector, in building an integrated system to support and incubate entrepreneurial projects, accelerate their growth, and developing initiatives and programs that make it a growth engine and a major contributor to our non-oil GDP.”
He said the Ministry of Economy, in cooperation with various government entities in the country, will “continue its efforts to support and empower Emirati entrepreneurs for the development of SMEs and start-ups in the country, especially those based on innovative ideas, as a priority within the UAE’s plans for the next 50 years”.
Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi (pictured below), Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said the ministry is developing an integrated strategy to stimulate entrepreneurship “to create an environment capable of providing comprehensive and sustainable support for entrepreneurs in the country”.
He added: “The economic challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 have affected the entrepreneurial sector negatively in most countries of the world and have led to the decline of most of the world economies. The progress made by countries on this indicator during the pandemic is a multiplier and reflects the unparalleled efforts made by the UAE to ensure support for this sector.”
Indonesia ranked first in the global index, followed by the Netherlands and Taiwan.
The report is the largest study on entrepreneurship and its activities in the world.
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