New Dh1bn Emirates Growth Fund to take minority stakes to help small businesses expand

Fund will focus on companies in advanced manufacturing, health care, food security and advanced technology

Dr Ahmad Al Falasi, Minister of Sports and chairman of Emirates Growth Fund, and Najla Al Midfa, the fund's vice chair and managing director, at the Make it in the Emirates event at Adnec. Antonie Robertson / The NationalShow less

The new Dh1 billion ($272 million) Emirates Growth Fund launched in the UAE on Monday will take minority stakes in small businesses in the country as it seeks to bridge the financing gap faced by small and medium enterprises.

The fund, backed by the Emirates Development Bank, will focus on businesses in advanced manufacturing, health care, food security and advanced technology, Najla Al Midfa, vice chair and managing director of the fund, said in a press conference on the sidelines of the Make it in the Emirates event on Monday.

"EGF will be focusing on companies born and based here in the UAE, generating revenues of over Dh10 million," she said. "We will invest between Dh10 million and Dh50 million, taking active minority stakes, usually between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the company, while leaving founders firmly in control, because we believe our role is to empower and not to control."

Currently, SMEs account for 94 per cent of all registered companies in the UAE, employ more than 86 per cent of all private-sector jobs and also contribute more than 60 per cent to non-oil gross domestic product, according to Dr Ahmad Al Falasi, the UAE Minister of Sports, who will serve as EGF chairman.

However, their share of funding is only 10 per cent, with a big gap of about $2 billion of funding, he said at the event.

"Too many SMEs based in the UAE with strong fundamentals and big ambitions often hit a ceiling, not because they lack vision but because the funding landscape doesn't meet them where they are," Ms Al Midfa said.

These companies may be in sectors not relevant to venture capital funds but they are also not yet large enough for traditional private equity. "They sit in what we call 'the missing middle'," she said.

The fund will target such companies, with its first investment being in Abu Dhabi-based Tarmeem Orthopedic and Spine Specialty Hospital, Ms Al Midfa confirmed. The hospital, set up in 2019, treats more than 20,000 patients annually.

"Unlike most funds, we don't have a fixed investment and divestment period," she said. "So we see ourselves as long-term partners with these companies.

"Yes, eventually, we obviously would like to exit [those stakes] ... we do have commercial objectives in addition to the economic impact," she said. "However, we will only exit when the time is right for the company, and that may be seven years ... maybe 10 years. We're happy to wait as long as it takes for that company to have that stable foundation and to be ready for that exit."

The exits are expected to be through a strategic acquisition or a stake sale rather than an initial public offering, given the size of the companies.

"But what we are doing is putting in place fundamentals like governance, so that down the line if they do decide to IPO, it will at least help them build that foundation," Ms Al Midfa added.