Dubai SME, the agency of the Department of Economic Development, DED, in Dubai, mandated to develop the Small and Medium Enterprise, SME, sector, in conjunction with the Dubai Statistics Centre, released a new study on the local SME sector as part of Dubai SME Development Plan, SMDP, which is part of the Dubai Plan 2021.
Underlining the role and importance of the SME sector in the overall economy in Dubai, the study, which was initiated during the first quarter of 2018, showed that SMEs continue to create a significant number of job opportunities and add substantial value to the emirate’s economy. The SME contribution to Dubai’s economy rose from 40 percent in 2009 to 47 percent in 2016 while their contribution to job creation rose from 42 percent to 52.4 percent during the same period in spite of the slow global economic growth, the study showed.
Younger start-ups make up nearly 50 percent of the companies registered in Dubai and it validates the emirate’s appeal as a global centre for entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer and innovation, which also boasts of a state-of-the-art infrastructure and flexible legislative framework conducive to investment.
According to the UAE Ministry of Economy, SMEs are the key engines of the national economy and are identified as one of the most important strategic drivers to support productive sectors. More than 94 percent of the companies operating in the UAE are SMEs and together, they account for more than 86 percent of the total private sector workforce as well as more than 60 percent of the country’s current GDP, which is estimated to go up to 70 percent by 2021.