Qatar is the best country in the region to be entrepreneur. Several steps taken by the authorities to encourage entrepreneurs have enabled the private sector to flourish and play an important role in contributing to economic grwoth.
Country’s effort to boost privates sector got yet another global recognition as Qatar has topped the GCC region in the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Index
Qatar secured 22nd place globally out of the total 137 countries in the Global Entrepreneurship Index compiled by development research and policy agency The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute.
Qatar Development Bank (QDB) is running many programme and schemes to promote entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises. It offers various training programme, workshops, and exhibitions for the SMEs who can choose the ones that interest them the most.
QDB, in April this year, had organised the third edition of ‘Moushtarayat’ - the Government Procurement and Contracting Conference & Exhibition. The three-day event was dedicated to providing a platform for interaction between local SMEs and the governmental bodies, in addition to strengthening cooperation between the private and public sector companies in Qatar.
To promote the private sector, QDB locally extends wide-ranging financial and non-financial support to entrepreneurs across a myriad of industries so that SMEs may achieve higher scales of competitiveness in Qatar.
Due to the regional developments in 2017, QDB doubled its efforts to encourage SMEs to expand their local procurement business. The bank provided opportunities for local supply to more than 700 Qatari factories, and qualified more than 1,000 entrepreneurs.
In addition to its initiatives in the industrial field, QDB launched several initiatives, most notably Jahez I and Jahez II. Jahiz I project, which includes 32 factories in the fields of plastics, aluminum and electronics and has been awarded to Qatari entrepreneurs, started production towards achieving part of local sufficiency.
Jahiz II, meanwhile, helped in equipping 16 factories in the field of food and beverages.
As part of supporting domestic industries, QDB supported in 2017 home-based entrepreneurs through “Made at Home” exhibition, in which 144 exhibitors took part with sales amounting to QR4m.
Now, QDB is set to launch two more incubation centres as part of its accelerated efforts to support startups and SMEs to achieve economic diversification in Qatar’s private sector. The new incubation centres will be dedicated to financial technology (FinTech) and sports technology (SportsTech). They will support every way possible to the innovative ideas of budding Qatari entrepreneurs who are aspiring to extend their contributions in transforming Qatar into a knowledge-based society.
