SME World 2017 celebrates region’s entrepreneurial quests
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22-March-2017
After a successful run in the past three years, the SME World 2017, the fourth edition of the largest entrepreneurship conference in the Middle East & North Africa region, was held today at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai. The summit was aimed to celebrate the hopes and ambitions of the region's aspiring entrepreneurs and cherish every innovative mind that seeks to bring change, every leader who aims to rise, and every investor willing to take risks to create value.
Organized by SPI Group, UAE's formidable engagement and lead generation platform, in partnership with Dubai SME, the agency of Dubai Economy – Government of Dubai mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, the conference attracted over 1,500 entrepreneurs, business magnates, investors, heads of government departments and C-Suite executives.
SME World 2017 also featured a powerful agenda consisting of keynotes from international speakers, engaging panel discussions, strategic workshops, an exhibition showcasing leading service providers, and an art expo. The summit, supported by Al Futtaim Toyota, DHL, Oracle and Cerebrate Business Consulting, also provided a platform to leading designers of the region to showcase their corporate summer collection.
"The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector has been the backbone of our nation's economy. It promotes employment opportunities, drives the economic growth of the nation, stimulates the latent entrepreneurial talent in the society and spawns a circle of innovation for a better and sustainable future. Dubai, and the UAE in general, have adopted exemplary policies and practices in empowering entrepreneurs and enabling SMEs to grow into global enterprises," commented His Excellency Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME.
"The RATE program launched recently by Dubai SME to evaluate SME performance in critical areas of growth and capabilities is a clear reflection of the growing confidence and competitiveness in the SME sphere. We see SME World 2017 as an appropriate forum to showcase our local SME potential before key industry players worldwide," added Al Janahi.
Speaking about their participation, Saud Abbasi, Managing Director of Toyota at Al-Futtaim Motors, said: "Our longstanding relationship with the SME World Summit is built on the trust that both of our organizations share a mutual goal of achieving growth and development for SMEs in the UAE. This year's conference also proved to be an engaging experience, and enabled us to showcase how Al-Futtaim Motors can support organizations with comprehensive automotive business solutions, as we strive to remain the automotive partner of choice for SMEs in the country".
Elliott Santon, Marketing Director MENA and Direct Sales UAE at DHL, said: "The SME sector is one of the most important pillars in developing the economy. According to a recent study conducted by IHS Global in association with DHL, expansion into regional or international markets is key to an SME's growth. Our partnership with SME World is a reflection that DHL Express understands the unique needs of SMEs and actively supports those UAE based SMEs eager to export in other GCC markets or the wider MENA area."
"75 per cent of our 400K+ customers around the world are small and mid-sized businesses. SMBs are at the heart of any country's economic growth and we believe that they need access to cloud technology at the lowest possible entry point. SMBs are a key focus for Oracle in the Middle East and we are supporting the digital transformation process for many SMB organizations," said Abdul Rahman Al Thehaiban, Senior Vice President – Tech, Middle East and Africa, Oracle.
"More recently, we have launched a state of the art Oracle Digital Hub in Dubai to drive cloud adoption amongst SMBs in the region. The Digital Hub will employ 400 cloud sales professionals and is equipped with future proof technology to deliver an exceptional customer experience. Oracle has democratized enterprise-grade technology to support start-ups and our full cloud stack provides start up developers with the building blocks to get started immediately and scale as they pivot, expand and change their businesses, whether they are three-tier or cloud native, scale up or scale out," added Al Thehaiban.
"SMEs in today's world are transforming at a fast pace. We understand the current requirements of the market and hence work to deliver our best. We are well-established operations & productivity optimization consultants in India but now we want to expand to the middle east and gain more exposure by bringing in our expertise to help upcoming, running and established SMEs and related industry sectors to become much healthier operationally; bring in a culture of sustainable improvements rather than a conventional Shockwave approach to a productive changeover," said A. Sharma, Director, Cerebrate Business Consulting.
Shantanu AP, CEO of SPI Group, said "We've seen a tremendous growth in terms of size and number ever since we started SME World in 2013. The idea behind this event was to provide the relevant content and showcasing opportunities for growing business in the region. Our main focus is to elevate the accumulated resources and capabilities of the little giants to help take their business to the next level".