Etisalat gathers world-renowned disruptors under one platform to empower start-ups and SMBs

Abu Dubai – MENA Herald: Etisalat is pleased to announce SME Beyond Borders 2016 – a unique platform created just for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) community to foster awareness on disruptive business models from around the world. This is in line with the UAE government’s commitment to fuel growth in the SMB sector.
SME Beyond Borders 2016 is an annual event that will bring together entrepreneurs, industry disruptors and investors in a large-scale gathering on October 27th, at the Atlantis Hotel, Palm. Etisalat, as lead content curator of SME Beyond Borders 2016, conceptualised and developed a platform with SME Advisor that is in line with the needs of SMBs to ensure they get meaningful and relevant content to help them grow their business.
John Lincoln, Senior Vice President-SMB, Etisalat, said, “SME Beyond Borders 2016 is an innovative and first-of-its-kind platform that brings together a blend of local and international SMB innovators who are disrupting traditional business models. Etisalat has joined forces with its partners to support this sector by bringing beneficial content to drive incremental value for SMBs. Etisalat’s primary objective is to empower start-ups and SMBs with knowledge of global best practices that will help increase productivity and profitability.”
Gina Larsen, Co-Founder and COO, CPI Business, said: “In a country that sees an average of three events a day, there is a need for Etisalat and SME Advisor, as content co-curators of SME Beyond Borders 2016, to bring a relevant platform for SMBs. That’s exactly why we have to constantly raise the bar and set new benchmarks of excellence so that SMBs can take away real examples and relevant knowledge to help them grow their business.”
The event is dotted with keynote presentations from distinguished personalities including entrepreneur and best-selling book author, Peter Voogd; and elevator pitch master for business executives world over, Nathan Gold. It will also be debuting a first-ever “Hello Business” pitch competition that enables entrepreneurs and start-ups to pitch for funding in front of the region’s top venture capitalists and investors.