Take 'Made in UAE' global: Experts

Dubai - Speaking in a panel discussion on Dubai's Economic Blueprint for 2021, Masand also highlighted how diversification is important in the SME industry in the region.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which have been born and brought up in the UAE can and should be taken international, said Niraj Masand, co-founder and director of banke International, at the 2016 SME World summit in Dubai.
"I personally think we should encourage a platform whereby we sell the UAE brand globally. We need to take our made in UAE brand products and services and trade them internationally. We should take our home grown brands to international markets, and I encourage all our SMEs to start with the region itself. The population in the UAE is close to 10 million, but if you look at the neighbouring countries, they can give a big boost to the UAE SMEs that reach out to these markets," Masand said.
Speaking in a panel discussion on Dubai's Economic Blueprint for 2021, Masand also highlighted how diversification is important in the SME industry in the region.
He explained that for an SME owner today, expanding their core businesses is a must if they are to retain a competitive advantage. Similarly, Farah Aslam, managing director of Dimara International, also spoke about the importance of innovation and how SMEs that focus on innovation have and edge in the market. SMEs in the UAE today already contribute over 60 per cent of the country's non-oil GDP, and are likely to contribute as much as 70 per cent by 2021.
Speaking on the current economic environment in the region, Hans Henrik Christensen, director of the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre at the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, noted that the SME sector in the region would remain mainly unaffected by the negative conditions. "Obviously, there are a lot of startups that are struggling to find customers for their products right now, but we are just scratching the surface in terms of what the market can take. I don't believe that all is gloom and doom and that the outlook for the SME sector in the region will remain mainly positive."
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com

SMEs score at Disruptive Entrepreneur AwardsDubai - Six UAE-based SMEs were honoured with the Disruptive Entrepreneur Awards at the 2016 SME World summit in Dubai, for their contribution to the SME industry in the region. SME World 2016, the third edition of the largest entrepreneurship conference in the Middle East & North Africa region, was inaugurated today by Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME. Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME, presented the awards to the six winning SMEs in two categories - start-up and established SME business. The winners in the start-up category included Beehive, the UAE's first peer to peer financing platform that has acquired over 3,000 clients in the last two years. The second winner was Load ME, the Uber of trucking with a network of 6,500 trucks and the first transporters market in the Middle East; and the third winner was Travall, a first of its kind mobile app offering a video concierge to the city. The winners of the established SME business category included IXTEL Technologies, a supplier of network services for converged infrastructures that has acquired 500 clients in the last three years. The second winner was RTS Global Partners, a family business advisory and professional services firm supporting hundreds of international clients in over 150 disciplines; and the third SME to win in the category was Taka Solutions, an engineering and technology company that uses an innovative paid-from-savings business model to reduce energy consumption and carbon from buildings. -rohma@khaleejtimes.com