UAE has achieved a very rare feat of being listed as the first nation within the Middle East territory and fourth amongst global nation’s list in the realm of Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2020 by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM – NECI), surging up from fifth position within the 2019 report.
What’s more interesting is that it has undoubtedly emerged as a clear winner as it has outperformed many of the core global robust economies like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, European Union nations, China, Japan as well as South Korea within the overall ranking in the Index.
Within numerous sub-indicators that was included within the general index structure within the 2020 version, the UAE has accomplished progressive rank. It has also been most noteworthily, positioned second within the National Governments’ Retort to the COVID-19 lockdown and its effect on the entrepreneurial sector.
As per the statement of the economy minister H.E Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri announced that the great achievement or feat is a matter of huge pride and that: “the UAE has a world-leading experience in supporting and organizing the entrepreneurship sector, in building an integrated system to support and incubate entrepreneurial projects, accelerate their growth, and developing initiatives and programs that make it a growth engine and a major contributor to our non-oil GDP thereby depicting the soundness of the approach and the robustness of the economic policies pursued by the UAE, with the provision and guidance of its wise leadership.”
With an overall rating of 7.3 points out of 10, the UAE as the initial Arab league Nation has also accomplished the feat of being positioned higher on the General Physical Infrastructure and Services indicator access as well as Cultural, Social Norms and Society Support, and also has outperformed the best global power houses like United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Austria and Germany.
Additionally, the nation also has ranked higher in the sub indicator R&D Level of Transference, along with the Kingdom of Norway and Italy, in advance of Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, South Korea.
He further added that: “Led by the directives of their wise leadership, the Ministry of Economy, in cooperation with various government entities in the country, will endure its efforts to support and empower Emirati entrepreneurs for the development of SMEs and start-ups in the country, especially those based on innovative ideas, as a priority within the UAE’s plans for the next fifty years. We will ensure the integration of new business models into the activities of entrepreneurs to improve their performances, make them globally competitive and enable them to keep pace with global developments and ultimately become active participants in the country’s economic transformation.”
H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs also commented that: “the country’s excellent global ranking in GEI reflects the success of its efforts and ambitious aspirations that stem from the insightful vision of its wise leadership. This indeed is a valuable addition to the country’s record of outstanding economic achievements. These efforts will continue in cooperation with the Ministry’s partners inside and outside the country to make Emirati entrepreneurs the best and most successful in the world in the coming years.”
H.E. Al Falasi specified that the Ministry is evolving an integrated strategy to stimulate entrepreneurship during the forthcoming phase in cooperation with the concerned authorities.
- This is aimed at evolving an integrated framework to provision nationwide entrepreneurship, power up the progress of the SME sector in the numerous emirates of the nation, and to generate an environment proficient of offering up a wide-ranging and justifiable support for entrepreneurs in the nation.
- These efforts will focus on the comfort of doing business, access to finance, upsurge the demand, business provision, innovation, and digital revolution. He further explained that the entrepreneurship as well as the SME sector has today become a foremost engine for economic growth, in addition to its crucial role in producing employment prospects and nurturing the nation’s affordability at the local and global levels.
H.E. Falasi further added: “The economic roadblocks shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 have exaggerated the entrepreneurial sector negatively in most nations of the world and have led to the deterioration of most of the global economies. The progress made by nations on this indicator during the pandemic is a multiplier and reflects the unparalleled efforts made by the UAE to ensure support for this sector. This ensured the continuity of businesses and put them on a sustainable path of growth, which is reflected in the country’s second ranking globally in the sub-indicator namely Speed of Government Response to the Effects of the Pandemic on the Entrepreneurship Sector.”
Indonesia is positioned initial in the GIM 2020, trailed by the Netherlands of and Taiwan. The index is issued by GEM, which is the global initial reference for the state of entrepreneurship in numerous nations, specifically by international organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the United Nations organizations.
GEI is one of the core indicators of the UAE Vision 2021 national agenda, under the alliance of ‘Competitive Knowledge Economy,’ administered by the Ministry of Economy, with the influence of a national team and with the involvement of many stakeholders in the nation.
The top stakeholders include the Prime Minister’s Office; the Statistics and Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre; the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development; Dubai SME; and the departments of economic development.
The report is the principal study on entrepreneurship and its happenings in the global stage and includes a summary of the research that the Observatory ways on global economies to appraise the state of entrepreneurship in innumerable nations. The report’s methodology focuses on achieving three core objectives: measurement of modifications in entrepreneurial movement across global economies and considerate of the ecosystem of entrepreneurship; determining the factors disturbing it; and proposing strategies that can help boost the level of entrepreneurial activity in the contributing nations.
The index appraises contributing nations on many sub-indicators within a supple structure that embraces aspects like that of finance, government policies, and government programs for entrepreneurs, research and development and knowledge transfer, teaching entrepreneurship skills in school and university education, labor market dynamics, and supportive infrastructure and the culture and societal outlook in support of entrepreneurship, among others.
