Denis Opudo
Dubai is the preferred business center for many investors and entrepreneurs across the globe. The region creates a competitive business environment based on technological innovation. It also gains the investors’ confidence through the establishment of favorable entrepreneurial regulations. Besides enabling regulations, the region enjoys transparency and innovative opportunities.
According to the Dubai’s Crown Prince, the use of blockchain technology transformed the entrepreneurial spirit. He added that the region leads in a number of digital startups. Moreover, he emphasized that the UAE is the entrepreneurial hub in the MENA. The State of Digital Investments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) report for 2013-2017 supported these claims. Arabnet and Dubai SME prepared the 2017 MENA’s annual report.
The report also showed that UAE had more than one-third of the investors in MENA. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, and Lebanon had 70% digital startups investment in 2017. The UAE had a total of 298 digital startups. The remaining three countries each attracted less than 155 digital startups. In total, the MENA region accumulated $650 million during the same period. The StarzPlay and Careem made the UAE accrue 76% of the total amount collected last year. The report indicated that a large number of investments in the MENA region were in the tech startups. Some of the startups comprised of the lifestyle, healthcare, entertainment, finance, and enterprise.
The chief executive officer of Dubai SME explained that Startup accelerators grew by 16% last year. He noted that startups growth required one-third of the total investment funds. The corporate investors had the fastest growth rate. In 2017, venture capital had 25% of the digital investors in the region. The report also showed that most of the new corporate investors were located in Egypt and UAE. The corporate investment recorded a stable growth rate of 41% for the last five years.
