Development Finance support for SMEs in the UAE – Abu Dhabi

Travelling around the UAE and looking at the new glitzy infrastructure, largely state-funded, it’s often hard to believe that SMEs are an important part of the local economy. In fact, they contribute more than 50% of the UAE non-oil GDP and contribute to about 60% of private employment in the UAE. 50% of the labour payments are made by SMEs and they are particularly prevalent in the non-oil sectors but SMEs also suffer from the complex legal and regulatory landscape. They are susceptible to payment delays, often they don’t have enough collateral to benefit from commercial funding and there’s a large number of SMEs that are not owned by the local population. All of these are enormously challenging obstacles for state interventions in developing financing mechanisms for SMEs in the UAE and that’s why we’ve been working alongside the government to come up with innovative solutions to meet these challenges.