Emirati Entrepreneurs Association Holds Virtual Ramadan Majlis To Discuss COVID-19 Challenges And Opportunities

In a virtual Ramadan Majlis organized on Wednesday by the Emirati Entrepreneurs Association, a number of the heads and directors of the public and private institutions concerned with supporting the SMEs and entrepreneurship recently underscored that the UAE was one of the world’s first countries to launch a number of catalytic initiatives for the startups and entrepreneurs, providing them with the necessary support to overcome the global challenges and repercussions of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This stems from the UAE’s early recognition of the pivotal role of the emerging companies in the various economic sectors.

The event was held via the video conference technology in cooperation with the Dubai Consultancy, the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (the Khalifa Fund), and Sharjah Entrepreneurship Foundation (Ruwad).

Held under the theme “Scanning issues & opportunities as a result of COVID-19”, the event touched on the repercussions of COVID-19 on the entrepreneurship sector and the role of the government stimulus package in the sustainability of SMEs.

Present at the meeting were HE Sanad Al Miqbaly, Chairman of the Emirati Entrepreneurs Association, HE Hamad Al Mahmoud, Director of Sharjah Entrepreneurship Foundation “Ruwad”, HE Mohamed Al Janahi, Executive Director of the Investment and Business Development Sector, Ajman Chamber of Commerce & Industry, HE Moza Obaid Al Naciri, Acting CEO of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, HE Walid Hareb Al-Falahi, CEO of Dubai Consultancy, Saeed Ghanem Al Suwaidi, Chairman of the Representative Committee of the Real Estate Sector Business Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Innovation Fund, Ibrahim Ali Bin Shaheen, CEO of I Investment, and the consultant Mohamed Al-Muhri, Economic Researcher and Expert, while the event was moderated by Hazza Al-Mansoori, in addition to the participation of more than 150 business owners and entrepreneurs, where they discussed the importance of exerting further efforts to develop projects and to create immediate solutions to the challenges facing SMEs to boost the continuity of the entrepreneurial sector in the UAE.

Readiness for the future

The first session was opened by Walid Hareb Al-Falahi who spoke about the importance of benefitting from the reports and studies released by those institutions concerned with supporting entrepreneurship in the UAE, including the Khalifa Fund, Ruwad, and Emirati Entrepreneurs Association.

“Such reports would help explore and share the global changes, amid COVID-19, with decision-makers and experts to get ready for the future and its changes to serve the startups. We also need to tackle the obstacles and challenges facing the emerging companies and reduce the burdens on them through uniting efforts and cohesion to come up with initiatives and programs that ensure support for national companies during the current stage,” added Al-Falahi.

Monitoring and addressing challenges

For his part, Sanad Al Miqbaly highlighted the role of the Emirati Entrepreneurs Association since the emergence of COVID-19, including the communication with the Association’s members whose businesses are affected by the current crisis. We have conducted a questionnaire to study the situation thoroughly by monitoring the challenges those companies face and communicating with banks and companies providing financing to SMEs to develop systematic programs aimed at mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on the business sector.

He noted that the Association has made a number of recommendations which have been met with great response and desire to assist the business community by the competent government authorities.

Al Miqbalyprovided further recommendations to support the efforts in place to help SMEs owners face the current situation. These include cutting interest rates for entrepreneurs and restructuring their loans while providing more facilities for the loans obtained during the current crisis, by extending the grace period of several months before starting repayment and increasing the repayment period to be more than four years.

He also called for exempting entrepreneurs who cannot pay rents in the current time and recommending that COVID-19 should be considered as a natural disaster to ease procedures for rental exemption.

Government fees for renewing commercial licenses should be deferred or paid in installments since a number of entrepreneurs have been significantly affected and they need government support until the end of the crisis.

“Most entrepreneurs are facing the same issues, especially those pertaining to rents and communication with banks. Based on that, we’ve contacted the central bank and there is a great response from banks regarding the deferral of loans installments for a specific period in accordance with banking policies,”

Al Miqbaly concluded that the solutions should originate from the entrepreneur himself, along with government incentives, as the entrepreneur is responsible for tackling all the issues that may arise in the business through information technology or points of sale, among others.

In turn, Hamad Al Mahmoud pointed to Ruwad’s comprehensive study for 115 entrepreneurs in Sharjah. It showed that 51% of the projects were highly affected, 15% were moderately affected, and 34% were lowly affected, while the E-commerce companies were less affected by the virus.

He shed light on the most important challenges spotted by the study, including rents, salaries, bank installments, government fees, liquidity issues, and lack of skilled labor because of their high wages, explaining that Ruwad has launched a host of incentives, such as waiving governmental fees for the Foundation members, delaying projects installments for three months, delaying projects installments for Sharjah Islamic Bank, contacting delivery companies to offer lower fees for Ruwad members, and providing them with free advice and online training.

Harnessing the potential

Commending the strenuous efforts of the UAE’s wise leadership in providing a supportive, flexible, and adaptable economic environment to confront challenges through the stimulus packages and other facilities for the private sector, Mohamed Al Janahi said that Ajman Chamber has harnessed all the potential to support the SMEs by finding effective communication channels with the public entities and supporters to tackle their challenges and obstacles, in addition to finding local and global online platforms to conclude deals and to open new markets for entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, Moza Al Naciri said: “The Khalifa Fund was keen to conduct an in-depth study by economic researchers to spot the conditions of the local market and to assess to what extent the business sector is affected by the precautionary and preventive measures taken to maintain the health and safety of everyone. We’ve also approached Emirati entrepreneurs to learn more about their challenges so that we can develop supportive initiatives in cooperation with the relevant authorities. The latter study is available at the website of Khalifa Fund”

“More than 15 virtual workshops were held to discuss crisis management, with the participation of 1200 individuals within two months. Also, we’ve launched a hotline to answer all inquiries and to provide free support and advice. The Fund has also announced a three-month delay for loan installments to Emirati MSME owners who are covered by the loans program and we are in the process of launching new packages to cope with the changing developments,” she concluded.

Boosting the digital infrastructure

In the second session, Saeed Ghanem Al Suwaidi spoke about the importance of strengthening the digital infrastructure of the startups and developing their E-service, as well as to gear up for post-COVID-19-era which would be based on AI-driven economy.

Al Suwaidi emphasized the importance of conducting in-depth studies to assess the needs of entrepreneurs and to establish specialized departments for this purpose under government supervision.

He also suggested allocating a federal office to guide and support entrepreneurs, in addition to the seriousness of government procurement support and the acceleration and reduction of the repayment period.

Praising the government initiatives that aimed primarily at mitigating the financial burdens on the startups through a number of governmental exemptions, Ibrahim Ali Bin Shaheen emphasized that banks should remain committed to providing further facilities in line with the government directives, while the consultant Mohamed Al-Muhri highlighted the responsibilities of entrepreneurs in terms of the importance of adapting themselves to the current crisis by finding effective solutions and not only relying on the governmental support, stressing the need to provide support to those who are entitled through scientific evaluation of existing projects.

The Majlis concluded with a number of recommendations, including the call to cut interest rates, establish a fund to support national projects with the participation of top businessmen in the country and to enact laws for the relationship between the lessor and the lessee.