Small business owners in UAE optimistic about economic recovery post-Covid

Dubai - 61% of SMBs in the UAE are optimistic about their businesses.

The UAE's small businesses are making strong efforts to not only overcome the challenges Covid-19 posed at them, but are also planning activities that will help them generate solid revenues to stay afloat in the business and the industry.
Small businesses are the heart of the community - and the unsung heroes of the global economy. From coffee shops, bookstores and restaurants to plumbers, wedding planners and graphic designers, small businesses create jobs and growth in every country, helping to reduce poverty and income inequality. But they are facing the challenge of a lifetime.
The Covid-19 pandemic is not just a public health emergency, it is also an economic crisis that is hitting small and medium-sized businesses exceptionally hard. Globally, 26 per cent of SMBs reported that they had closed between January and May 2020 - over 50 per cent in some countries, according to Global State of Small Business report, published by Facebook, in partnership with the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The report is the first in an ongoing series that was planned before the virus struck and is based on data from surveying more than 30,000 small business leaders across more than 50 countries. According to the report, 61 per cent of SMBs in the UAE are optimistic about their businesses; 65 per cent reported some of the highest proportions of SMBs that are operational or engaging in any revenue-generating activities; and 40 per cent reported that 25 per cent of their sales were made digitally in the past month.

"SMBs are vital to the global economy and play a big role in Facebook's community - and since the early days of the pandemic we have taken steps to help them weather the storm. That is why we recently launched Facebook Shops to make it easier to sell online and created our Business Resource Hub, where small business owners can get training, advice and information - including guidance from healthcare experts," said Ramez Shehadi, managing director, Facebook Mena.
Over 160 million businesses use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp every month to reach customers, sell and grow. Over the next six months, SMBs in more than 50 countries and regions will be surveyed monthly regarding business operations in the context of Covid-19, to capture the impacts of the pandemic on the financials and challenges of SMBs, as well as adjustments being implemented in response to the crisis. The objective of this research is to amplify the voice of SMBs and assess how their situations are changing.
"The administration's initiatives in response to the crisis have been decisive and targeted. Pre-crisis, the UAE economy was growing steadily, indicating strong underlying fundamentals. In fact, the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2019 identified the UAE as the region's most competitive economy. Most sectors were already actively engaged in enhancing their future readiness by embracing innovative strategies and technologies. All of these factors, in combination, will allow the UAE embrace the new normal much more adeptly, than most other nations, regionally or globally, " said Sanjeevv Bhatia, CEO, Founder of Netix Global.
Meanwhile, Zoho Corporation launched Bigin, a pipeline-centric CRM solution built specifically for small businesses on Wednesday. "Small businesses can stop relying on dozens of spreadsheets to manage customer activities and instead move to a CRM that is easy to use and which allows them to focus on growing and building strong customer relationship," said Hyther Nizam, president MEA, Zoho Corp. - sandhya@khaleejtimes.com