This is a golden age for startups and entrepreneurs in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Geopolitics, technology, climate urgency and daring national agendas across the region have combined to create what might be the most favourable conditions that small businesses anywhere have ever enjoyed.
Private-sector expansion is the key to national ambitions in all six countries. Increasingly, Gulf leaders will be looking to small business and entrepreneurs as engines of job creation and innovation. The time is right.
The ecosystems that Gulf countries established to nurture, fund and scale digital startups are maturing. Gulf funders — from sovereign wealth funds to venture capitalists to family offices — are looking to write checks to entrepreneurs closer to home.
Regulatory fine-tuning is creating new openings for smaller companies that have struggled to compete. Massive infrastructure, energy and technology projects are having a spinoff effect for local businesses and specialized service providers.
Finally, powerful currents in Gulf trade, foreign investment, research and e-commerce are all working in favour of SMEs.
