Residential towers, developed by Emaar Properties PJSC, in the Dubai Harbour district in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. The emirate’s prime real-estate prices surged 70. 3% over the 12 months through September, making it the biggest gainer on Knight Frank’s global index, which focuses on a city’s most desirable and expensive homes. Photographer: Christopher Pike / Bloomberg
Residential towers, developed by Emaar Properties PJSC, in the Dubai Harbour district in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. The emirate’s prime real-estate prices surged 70. 3% over the 12 months through September, making it the biggest gainer on Knight Frank’s global index, which focuses on a city’s most desirable and expensive homes. Photographer: Christopher Pike / Bloomberg
Residential towers, developed by Emaar Properties PJSC, in the Dubai Harbour district in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. The emirate’s prime real-estate prices surged 70. 3% over the 12 months through September, making it the biggest gainer on Knight Frank’s global index, which focuses on a city’s most desirable and expensive homes. Photographer: Christopher Pike / Bloomberg
Residential towers, developed by Emaar Properties PJSC, in the Dubai Harbour district in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. The emirate’s prime real-estate prices surged 70. 3%

UAE aims to be home to 20 unicorns by 2031 as part of programme to back start-ups and SMEs


Deena Kamel
  • English
  • Arabic

The UAE aims to become home to 20 unicorns, or start-ups valued at more than $1 billion, by 2031 as part of a programme it launched on Wednesday to attract and expand small-and-medium enterprises.

The Entrepreneurial Nation initiative aims to offer support through a series of public-private partnerships that help entrepreneurs set up in the UAE, expand their businesses, export their products and tap into online sales, Ahmad Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said during a conference in Dubai.

The UAE will also set up a Dh1bn ($272 million) private equity fund for lending to SMEs based in the country and operating in strategic sectors, which will be released from the first quarter of 2022 and over the next five years, he said.

“Our aim today is to transform from a regional to a global entrepreneurship hub,” the minister said.

SMEs are the backbone of the UAE economy, with the government introducing economic support packages to help business owners weather the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also taken measures to create a more attractive environment for foreign investment by easing visa rules, liberating company ownership rules and updating laws.

“The UAE, federally and locally, is amending laws because this is the most important factor in attracting capital and also talent,” the minister told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

The programmes under the UAE's Entrepreneurial Nation initiative will start this month, according to the ministry’s presentation.

The Entrepreneurial Nation, a unified destination for start-ups from inception to growth, encompasses three stages or tracks.

The Skill-Up Academy is intended to equip participants with entrepreneurial skills and to be suited to a variety of participants, including students, recent graduates, employees, retirees, homemakers and jobseekers.

Its Start-Up track will target entrepreneurs who are seeking to establish a business and will offer incentives, products and services to support start-ups and innovative companies in the country. This includes a partnership with Emirates Development Bank to open bank accounts as quickly as within 48 hours.

The Scale-Up programme will back fast-growing, revenue-earning companies that are more than three years old to expand and eventually become unicorns.

The various tracks will offer services from facilitating access to funding, offering a network of experts for mentorship, exporting to international markets, digitalisation and sourcing talent, according to the presentation.

Entrepreneurial Nation has partnerships with global companies such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Cisco, Huawei and UPS, as well as local entities such as Etihad Credit Insurance and Khalifa Fund For Enterprise Development to support entrepreneurs.

“The Entrepreneurial Nation is a partnership and scalable platform with the private sector,” Mr Al Falasi told The National.

The ministry is still considering whether the new Dh1bn fund for start-ups and SMEs will be for early stage or late-stage businesses, he said.

“We will only intervene when there is a gap,” Mr Al Falasi said.

“So when we release the fund, we size it in a way without overwhelming the market … at the same time, I don’t want to cannibalise and overstep on VCs. So we’re taking our time in understanding what's the best way in complementing the sector.

if you go

The flights

Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes. 

The hotels

Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes. 

When to visit

March-May and September-November

Visas

Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.

I Care A Lot

Directed by: J Blakeson

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage

3/5 stars

Company profile

Date started: December 24, 2018

Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer

Based: Dubai Media City

Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)

Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech

Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year

Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020

Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Australia tour of Pakistan

March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi  

March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi 

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi

March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi

April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi

April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi

Getting%20there
%3Cp%3EGiven%20its%20remote%20location%2C%20getting%20to%20Borneo%20can%20feel%20daunting%20even%20for%20the%20most%20seasoned%20traveller.%20But%20you%20can%20fly%20directly%20from%20Kuala%20Lumpur%20to%20Sandakan%20and%20Sepilok%20is%20only%20half%20an%20hour%20away%20by%20taxi.%20Sandakan%20has%20plenty%20of%20accommodation%20options%2C%20while%20Sepilok%20has%20a%20few%20nature%20lodges%20close%20to%20the%20main%20attractions.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Quick%20facts
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3EStorstockholms%20Lokaltrafik%20(SL)%20offers%20free%20guided%20tours%20of%20art%20in%20the%20metro%20and%20at%20the%20stations%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EThe%20tours%20are%20free%20of%20charge%3B%20all%20you%20need%20is%20a%20valid%20SL%20ticket%2C%20for%20which%20a%20single%20journey%20(valid%20for%2075%20minutes)%20costs%2039%20Swedish%20krone%20(%243.75)%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ETravel%20cards%20for%20unlimited%20journeys%20are%20priced%20at%20165%20Swedish%20krone%20for%2024%20hours%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAvoid%20rush%20hour%20%E2%80%93%20between%209.30%20am%20and%204.30%20pm%20%E2%80%93%20to%20explore%20the%20artwork%20at%20leisure%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make

When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.

“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.

This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).

Age

$250 a month

$500 a month

$1,000 a month

25

$640,829

$1,281,657

$2,563,315

35

$303,219

$606,439

$1,212,877

45

$131,596

$263,191

$526,382

55

$44,351

$88,702

$177,403

 

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
How do Sim card scams work?

Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.

They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards by claiming to be the victim, often pretending their phone has been lost or stolen in order to secure a new Sim.

They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.

The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.

MATCH INFO

Chelsea 1 (Hudson-Odoi 90 1')

Manchester City 3 (Gundogan 18', Foden 21', De Bruyne 34')

Man of the match: Ilkay Gundogan (Man City)

'C'mon C'mon'

Director:Mike Mills

Stars:Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Woody Norman

Rating: 4/5

Bio

Age: 25

Town: Al Diqdaqah – Ras Al Khaimah

Education: Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering

Favourite colour: White

Favourite place in the UAE: Downtown Dubai

Favourite book: A Life in Administration by Ghazi Al Gosaibi.

First owned baking book: How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

PAKISTAN SQUAD

Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (test captain), Babar Azam (T20 captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah. 

TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel

Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ogram%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Karim%20Kouatly%20and%20Shafiq%20Khartabil%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20On-demand%20staffing%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2050%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMore%20than%20%244%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20round%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Series%20A%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%2C%20Aditum%20and%20Oraseya%20Capital%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE and Russia in numbers

UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years

Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018

More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE

Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE

The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023

MATCH INFO

Real Madrid 2

Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')

Barcelona 0

Updated: April 19, 2023, 7:59 AM`