Financing
Funding provides entrepreneurs with the best shot at success. It sets you off on the right foot and ensures that founders with a comprehensive business plan prosper, even in the face of unprecedented obstacles.
Funding is a crucial factor for companies as it constitutes a buffer between personal expenses and business expenses. A founder may find themselves reaching for their personal savings to keep their business running if they do not have startup funding.
It is safe to claim that business is thriving in the UAE, given that over 35,000 startups that are registered here each year.
The UAE's image as a business-friendly nation is well-deserved as it is the perfect launchpad for new companies, thanks to lenient tax structures and geographic benefits. UAE has also been named the leading country for entrepreneurship in 2022 by the Global Entrepreneurship Index.
Some of the ways to obtain funding for your startup in the UAE include:
Friends and Family
This is the easiest and quickest way of raising money for your company. Asking trusted family and friends who believe in you and your startup's concept may help you get a loan to build your Dubai SME.
Alternative Funding Sources
Approaching micro-loan providers and crowdsourcing websites with your business proposal and startup stage financing possibilities. Just like everywhere else in the world, these platforms are gaining popularity in the UAE. When you promote your company idea in this way, you may be able to raise decent sums of funding from a large number of people.
Angel investors
An angel investor is a person with a sizable net worth who is eager to fund entrepreneurs or startup enterprises in order to help them get their ventures off the ground. Angel investors, also known as seed investors or private investors, frequently contribute significant capital to companies in exchange for a stake in the business. The business owner's acquaintances or friends may be angel investors. They may also be experts in a certain field or have previous investment expertise, and they may decide to invest because they view the business as promising.
Venture Capital Funds
Venture capital (VC) is a sort of private equity financing provided by investors to start-up enterprises and small businesses with the potential for long-term growth. The majority of venture capital in a fund is often provided by wealthy individuals, investment banks, and other financial organisations.
The UAE government is unwavering in its determination to support entrepreneurs and SMEs and their expansion.
The government has announced a wide range of projects as part of the UAE's effort to transition to a knowledge-based economy as a result. However, the lack of financing is a major barrier to the expansion of new and small enterprises in economies everywhere, including the UAE.
The Emirates Development Bank (EDB) has launched a Dh30 billion funding strategy to encourage startups and SMEs in the nation, while the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) recently released guidelines to help SMEs and endorse best practices for Licensed Financial Institutions (LFIs) when working with SMEs.
EDB announced a number of programs as part of the UAE's "Projects of the 50" campaign structure to get the nation ready for the next 50 years.
These initiatives are meant to speed up industrial growth, promote the embracement of cutting-edge technology, and encourage entrepreneurship and creativity.