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New pact to encourage Emiratis enter areas like technology and small industries

ABU DHABI — The Ministry of Labour and the Khalifa Fund for Supporting Medium and Micro Enterprises yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to encourage UAE nationals enter new areas such as technology and the small industries sector.

The MoU was signed by Minister of Labour Dr Ali bin Abdullah Al Ka’abi and Khalifa Fund Chairman Hussain J. Al Nowais in Abu Dhabi.

Dr Al Ka’abi told Khaleej Times that the ministry is working to find the ways and means to provide facilities to the national youths in order to reduce the unemployment rate among nationals.

“The MoU will encourage new ideas submitted by fresh graduates but the new projects should not rely on a large workforce,” Dr Al Ka’abi said. “The new ideas should not be in the traditional industries such as contracting, security services, or cleaning and maintenance services.” He pointed out that the new businesses will be put in the ‘A’ category with provision of faster issuance of work permits and bank guarantee waiver. “The Fund has also signed MoUs with the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Economic Department to waive registration and licence fees,” said Al Nowais. As many as 200 youths have completed a training course, including accounting, management, quality control, and finance and marketing studies.

The Khalifa Fund has three programmes to help the nationals to enter new business areas. A Dh250,000 finance for setting up Micro-Finance Business; Dh250,000 to Dh3 million finance for business start-up; and Dh3-5 million for expansion of businesses. The fund gives special attention to women as they comprise about 30 per cent of the applicants.

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