Dubai - MENA Herald: Dubai SME, the agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED) mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, has successfully concluded the second cycle of the capability development programmes for its Dubai SME100 companies. The second cycle comprised 21 specialised workshops, which were attended by 890 senior executives from the SME100 companies, a 94 per cent increase in participation compared to the previous cycle.
Further underlining the wide acceptance for the capability development programmes rolled out in the last two years, 93 per cent of the participants expressed satisfaction in the second cycle as against 90 per cent in the first cycle. The workshops were designed to enhance the capabilities of the SME100 companies so as to enable them obtain necessary funding and investment as well as to grow financially and enter new markets.
Abdul Baset Al Janahi, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai SME, remarked that the second cycle of the capability development programme has gone far ahead in terms of quality of the workshops offered as evident from the senior executives from the ranked companies.
“We are happy with the results achieved, which proves the added value offered by Dubai SME in identifying gaps in Dubai’s SME ecosystem as well as the changes that companies need to bring about to facilitate access to capital and sustainable growth,” said Al Janahi.
Dubai SME has signed a series of partnerships with prestigious organisations such as Shuaa Capital and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in order to provide customised capacity-building programmes for Dubai SME100 companies, particularly in the areas of areas of corporate governance, investment, and preparing for capital markets entry.
Al Janahi added that the corporate governance workshop held in partnership with IFC attracted the strongest participation among the programmes offered, followed by the business valuation programme offered in collaboration with Shuaa Capital.
“Programmes in corporate social responsibility (in cooperation with the Dubai Chamber) also attracted significant number of attendees and the participants were unanimous in their opinion that the programmes would make it easier for them to expand in the UAE and across the region," said Al Janahi.
Launched under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, the Dubai SME100 programme identifies and ranks top-performing SMEs in Dubai based on a set of financial and non-financial dimensions. The non-financial dimensions include human capital development, innovation, corporate governance and international orientation.
Post-ranking, the SMEs will be offered capability development programmes in such diverse areas as corporate governance, business valuation, human capital development, investment development, risk management & insurance, and innovation over the next two years.
More information on Dubai SME100 companies on www.dubaisme100.ae.
