Arab entrepreneurs rewarded for their leaps towards Gulf development goals
Arab entrepreneurs and small businesses were yesterday rewarded at the Mohammed bin Rashid Awards for Young Business Leaders for their hard work and for contributing to the region’s development.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, presented the awards to entrepreneurs across fields including renewable energy, health care and construction.
One of the winners, chief executive of Future Group, Abrar Al Masoud, created a television show in which other young entrepreneurs compete to come up with an idea that could contribute to national development plans.
“Our initiative began in Kuwait four years ago to support young entrepreneurs under the umbrella of Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah, the emir of Kuwait,” Ms Al Masoud said.
“The idea is a co-operation between the government, private sector and NGOs to support young entrepreneurs. It’s a reality TV show, the first in the GCC, and the unique idea is co-operation.”
Competitors in the show can win up to Dh6 million, and mentoring from consultants and experts. This year’s season will be the first to include other Gulf countries.
“We incubate the competitors from the start and we later integrate their projects in to the country’s plan,” Ms Al Masoud said.
“In Kuwait, we have lots of support for entrepreneurs but it is scattered so we have put all the support, from start to finish and beyond, in one pool.”
Over the past four years, the Future Group has trained 770 entrepreneurs in Kuwait in more than 15 projects, mostly of them industrial.
“The aim is to do this in the rest of the Gulf,” Ms Al Masoud said.
“The US state department’s global entrepreneurship programme has also agreed to co-operate with us now, and we’re targeting different sectors such as health care and industry applications.”
Abdullah Al Saaidi, 28, an Omani engineer and chief executive of Nafath Renewable Energy, was also among the winners.
“We work on the design and maintenance of solar panels,” said the graduate from the Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat.
“We established in 2012 when I was still an engineering student and today we have more than US$8 million [Dh29.3m] in revenue. We grew quickly over the last three years and get lots of work around the GCC.”
Mr Al Saaidi also plans to enter the UAE market.
“We’re trying to develop a solution to increase the efficiency of solar panels and develop a cheaper way to clean them,” he said.
“We’re testing them in Oman, but we plan to expand around the Gulf in the future and start a manufacturing line for solar panels, because all GCC countries are focused on renewable energy.”
His passion started as a student, when he developed a solar-charged electric car in 2011.
“We succeeded, so I always wondered what the next step was,” Mr Al Saaidi said.
“We had oil and gas at the time, but nowadays we’re working at the right time because there is a need for renewable energy.
“It was difficult at first, especially when all my colleagues graduated and immediately got a job on oilfields with high salaries. Everyone including my family tried to stop me. But now they’re very proud.”
Abdulla Jengan, an Emirati, is a second-generation entrepreneur, having taken up his father’s trading business and moved it towards manufacturing.
“We design, fabricate, assemble and test low-voltage diesel generator sets and sell them in the Middle East and North Africa,” Mr Jengan said. “We design water-pumping systems too, which can be used to transfer water in buildings and pump water and wastewater inside commercial buildings such as hospitals, villas and malls. The generator sets are a power back-up.”
The number of SMEs in the country has been growing at a rapid pace. Since 2016, there has been a 10 per cent growth and they comprise 95 per cent of businesses.
“If you talk holistically about creating an ecosystem, identifying companies, entrepreneurs and business leaders that started very small and are growing – people and the community should know about them,” said Abdul Baset Al Janahi, chief executive of Dubai SME.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to be identified by the media, public, their financiers and investors so they know there are people who are growing and doing very well.”
Mr Al Janahi said SMEs were crucial for the country’s economy.
“We’ve created the best environment in the region to attract, help and support startups and SMEs,” he said.
“This gives any economy a healthy standard.”
We’ve created the best environment in the region to attract, help and support start-ups and SMEs ABDUL BASET AL JANAHI Chief executive, Dubai SME