The director of the National Program for Small and Medium Enterprises and Enterprises, affiliated to the Ministry of Economy, Dr. Adeeb Al-Afifi, said that “86% of companies are members of the National Program for Small and Medium Enterprises and Enterprises owned by women entrepreneurs.” He added: “70% of the total companies are members of the program until Now it is one of the small companies that have five employees in less, and operate with an annual return of three million dirhams in less.
He continued during a press interview today: "The program will launch 16 new initiatives to support, enable and develop small and medium enterprises in the country during the next year," noting that "the initiatives include various axes, most notably the completion of the link with the European Business Network and expected to enter into actual implementation during the next April."
He explained that «the initiative will include linking the entrepreneurs registered in the national program for small and medium enterprises, who currently number 2000 members with the European Business Network that includes 11 thousand companies, which allows Emirati companies through partnership agreements, access to European markets with their products, which provides them with wide ranges To market its products, in addition to exchanging information and experiences, organizing joint events and exploring opportunities to establish new business partnerships with European business leaders. ”
Al-Afifi added, “The current year witnessed an increase in the number of UAE small and medium-sized projects activated through the electronic system of the national program for projects and small and medium enterprises to include 2000 business leaders compared to 1500 during the year 2018, with an increase of 33%.” He pointed out that “it is intended to increase the number of Entrepreneurs from the program members to 5,000 entrepreneurs by the end of next year, with the support of the supportive initiatives that are launched during that period ».
Al-Afifi added, "The program will work by the end of next January to prepare workshops to introduce the members of the national program to the initiative and the entrepreneur partners in the European Network."
He revealed that "the program recently monitored the submission of more than 160 applications from small and medium-sized enterprises to citizens to obtain financing from the Emirates Development Bank, and that initial approvals had been completed for up to 20% of the requests submitted for financing, which are concentrated in projects in the sectors of trade and services", Pointing out that «(the bank) provides financing with values ​​starting from 300 thousand dirhams and up to 30 million dirhams for projects, according to the nature of the sector, as the funds for industrial projects differ from commercial or service».