The National Program for Small and Medium Enterprises and Enterprises affiliated to the Ministry of Economy, the executive arm of the Council of Small and Medium Enterprises and Enterprises in the country, said that it is examining a new initiative that provides the opportunity to establish 400 platforms for SMEs in "Expo 2020 Dubai".
He added in press statements yesterday that the initiative has reached advanced stages and is in the final agreement on its details, revealing that 533 Emirati small projects benefited from the initiative to reduce the cost of bringing in foreign labor, bringing the total value of the support of these companies to 7.5 million dirhams at the end of 2019.
New initiative
In detail, 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 the Ministry is currently considering a new initiative that has reached advanced stages with the management of the Expo 2020 Dubai exhibition to establish 400 platforms for small and medium companies within the exhibition activities, to benefit from the participants. Huge international exhibition, business partnerships and distribution agreements.
He explained that the initiative is under final signature during the next two months, and gives small and medium-sized companies from the members of the national program an opportunity to present their work through platforms for a period of seven weeks, while the ministry is looking for more time periods.
He revealed that the system of rotation will be used on platforms, which gives an opportunity for more companies to benefit from the window of the international exhibition.
He stated that the program supported the benefit of its member SMEs, through an agreement with "Expo 2020 Dubai", to allocate between 10 and 20% of the exhibition's tenders for Emirati SMEs, especially in the areas of logistics, supplies, advertising and contracting.
Recruitment
Al-Afifi revealed that the total number of companies that benefited from the initiative to reduce the cost of recruiting foreign workers that was announced with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation during March 2019 amounted to 533 companies, with a value of 7.5 million dirhams, pointing to the employment of 3500 employees in those companies through the initiative that provides Support in the cost of recruitment by rates exceeding 90%, to reach only 300 dirhams instead of the cost of exceeding 7,000 dirhams previously.
He said that there are 105 small and medium-sized companies that have benefited from the government procurement allocation initiative for Emirati small projects this year, with allocation values of 700 million dirhams.