The Survival Of UAE SMEs In A Post COVID-19 Digital Economy – Entrepreneur

The Survival Of UAE SMEs In A Post COVID-19 Digital Economy – Entrepreneur

November

26, 2020



7 min read











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This article has been co-written by Aditya Kumar Singh.The UAE is a bountiful land where green businesses are viewed as favorable means to diversify an oil-rich economy and move away from petrochemical dependence.It has already been repeated many times that SMEs represents more than 94% of companies in the UAE, employing about 86% of the country's private sector workforce and generating 52% of the non-oil GDP. Plus, tech SMEs leveraging cloud computing and storage, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and the Internet of Things within strategic sectors have been key drivers of this development.Then, the country faced a dual shock with the COVID-19 and the oil price cliff which affected the whole economic cycle. As per the PWC Middle East COVID-19 April 2020 update, SME participation and sector fragmentation was identified as one of the most vulnerable sectors.In late April 2020, a report in the Financial Times noted that a staggering 70% of businesses in Dubai were expected to close within the next six months as the pandemic and global lockdowns ravage demand. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed were small