Creative Zone: The push our SMEs need right now

SMEs account for 40 per cent of the country’s GDP, and yet this segment has found it increasingly difficult to ride the tides of the pandemic. Many promising businesses have either had to downsize or even shut down.

What SMEs need now are answers to difficult questions and practical solutions that will keep them afloat. Taking this into account, the string of initiatives by the Dubai-based business set-up firm, Creative Zone have hit the correct spot.

The company initially started arranging workshops and webinars, addressing some of the most acute problems faced by entrepreneurs and SME owners; which further led Creative Zone to launch a dedicated portal called CZ Connect. The portal offers entrepreneurs a unique platform to engage, exchange ideas, cross-sell products and services, network, and establish meaningful business relationships to stay agile in the market.

Creative Zone has partnered with the Dubai Business Women Council to launch the UAE’s first women-only accelerator ‘She Leads’ that started on September 22. The 12-week intensive online training programme will assist women in achieving possible solutions to the barriers they face when starting and growing businesses, such as knowledge and access to finance, knowing their legal rights, gaining customers and a lack of experienced mentors and coaches. The accelerator runs parallell to Creative Zone’s ‘X Scale’ accelerator, that allows entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to a group of investors, venture capitalists and other key stake holders.

To analyse the impact Covid-19 had on our economy and how SMEs as well as large organisations have adapted during this period, Creative Zone surveyed around 500 companies. The detailed report, to be released soon, will propose initiatives and action plans to assist SMEs to stay afloat and grow in the future.