Why startups must play a major role in post-pandemic economic recovery in the Middle East

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?By now, we all know that many of the countries across the Middle East are trying to diversify their economies by supporting and nurturing sectors?outside of oil?and gas. According to a report from PwC, if these countries want to get this right, and grow their economies more quickly, they need to focus on reforming regulatory frameworks, expanding talent pools, and quite critically, strengthening local innovation.

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Personally, I am very passionate about creating markets that encourage entrepreneurship and build more robust startup ecosystems. Not only will this accelerate economic diversity but it will also help governments to successfully recover from the pandemic. This is particularly true for startups and small businesses that leverage emerging technologies to help governments and businesses to work smarter. These tech-enabled small ventures present the Middle East with an opportunity to move away from being users of digital technologies and become the inventors and creators of groundbreaking digital tools.

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Why we need entrepreneurs to succeed

When entrepreneurs and startups develop new products and services they create employment, which, in turn, boosts the economy. Keen to identify gaps in the market, entrepreneurs build businesses that are driven by innovation and that use resources in creative ways and identify techniques to leverage untapped digital potential. But they don’t only create new products and services, they also improve existing offerings and, when given the right opportunities, these startups can help large corporates expand their capabilities. With all of this in mind, entrepreneurship is an incredibly important vehicle of economic growth.?

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In fact, entrepreneurs have a positive knock-on effect on economies. Drilling down more specifically, in 2019 the?UAE Ministry of Economy?revealed that 95 percent of the country’s private sector was made up of small and medium-sized enterprises?(SMEs) or startups and these businesses contributed around 40 percent to the UAE’s GDP; employing as much as 42 percent of the UAE’s workforce. While these numbers are promising, if we are to unlock the true potential of these entrepreneurs, public and private entities must actively work together to improve the level of investment in, and support for, SMEs.

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The power of partnerships

In October last year, Microsoft launched its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) as part of the GrowthX Accelerator programme in the UAE. The programme seeks to help startups create solutions that can solve the corporate world’s unique challenges. Providing everything from tech enablement and market access to mentoring, co-creation opportunities and investor readiness training, the 12-week programme includes various tech workshops, knowledge sharing and community building sessions, as well as industry networking opportunities. Some of the startups selected as part of the first programme include, among others, an e-logistics brand that simplifies cost, time and resources across supply chain operations and a business that enables users to control, and gets rewards from, the use of their personal data.

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Why is this sort of initiative important? Because entrepreneurs play a critical role in driving the kind of disruption that moves economies forward. Visionary entrepreneurs and innovative startups will steer the digital economy of the future. And with the digital economy now shaping how global markets grow and thrive it is critical to assist, nurture and develop these small businesses today so that they can become the big businesses of tomorrow.??