Participating companies will receive a digital “Market Ready” stamp that will boost their credentials. AFP
Participating companies will receive a digital “Market Ready” stamp that will boost their credentials. AFP
Participating companies will receive a digital “Market Ready” stamp that will boost their credentials. AFP
Participating companies will receive a digital “Market Ready” stamp that will boost their credentials. AFP

Economy

Dubai Chamber launches programme to help local start-ups expand to new markets

Selected companies offer solutions in the fields of energy, health-tech, transportation, logistics, FinTech and e-commerce

Alkesh Sharma
Alkesh Sharma

November 01, 2020

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Dubai Startup Hub, an initiative of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Sunday announced a programme to help start-ups expand into new markets.

Called Scale-Up Dubai, the initiative is an extension of the Dubai Startup Hub’s existing Market Access programme that facilitates partnerships between start-ups and corporates in the emirate.

Selected start-ups, which have already developed viable businesses and have benefitted from the Market Access programme, have joined the initiative.

“Several of the participants are looking to bring their technologies to emerging markets around the world,” said Hisham Al Shirawi, vice chairman of Dubai Chamber.

As part of this programme, the start-ups were also coached about business set-up procedures, the costs and legalities of setting up a business in Dubai and about opportunities to showcase products and services to public as well as private sector organisations, Dubai Chamber said.

The start-ups were connected with the Dubai Chamber’s representative offices in Africa and Eurasia to help them expand internationally.

The selected companies in the new programme operate in the fields of energy, health-tech, transportation, logistics, FinTech and e-commerce that address current market needs and new challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since 2016, Dubai Startup Hub’s members have launched more than 35 pilot projects. They have collectively raised more than Dh16 million and generated more than Dh6m in sales.

The programme is an example of how Dubai Chamber is using its resources and representative offices to provide start-ups access to growth opportunities in emerging markets, said Omar Khan, director of international offices at Dubai Chamber.

Upon completion of the Scale-Up Dubai programme, participants will receive a digital “Market Ready” stamp that helps them boost their appeal and reputation among corporates in Dubai.

The UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest economy, has been a springboard for many successful start-ups such as Souq.com, Okadoc and Careem.

The Emirates was ranked among the 50 top destinations for start-ups in the world, according to a June report by Zurich-based research company StartupBlink.

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It's up to you to go green

Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.

“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”

When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.

He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.

“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.

One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.  

The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.

Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.

But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”

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