On 28 November, Faisal Al-Hammadi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates, delivered a keynote speech at the International Finance and Investment Cooperation Forum of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

The full speech is as below.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 

A very good morning to everyone. I hope it is already morning over there. My name is Faisal Al-Hammadi. I am the Assistant Under-Secretary for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises at the Ministry of Economy in the United Arab Emirates. I am honored to join you today at the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021, which aims at fully leveraging the potential of youth in shaping the continents in the future.

The ties between the United Arab Emirates and China have always been strategic and at the forefront of our agenda here in the United Arab Emirates. As we speak, China is the UAE’s largest global trading partner. Our strategic partnership continues to flourish based on shared values and mutual trust. The exchange of several high-level visits between the United Arab Emirates and China over the recent years have witnessed the signing of various agreements, aiming at enhancing cooperation at different levels, and also in sectors of the future. As a result, the value of non-oil trade exchange between both countries amounted to nearly 29 billion US dollars during the first half of 2021, a 25% growth compared to the same period in 2020. Our strategic partnership is evident in the health care sector as well. The manufacturing of Sinopharm vaccines here in the UAE sets a global example of cooperation in the fight against the pandemic. Also, the United Arab Emirates is home to more than four thousand Chinese companies that employ close to four hundred thousand people.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

Coming back to the forum theme, allow me to share the UAE’s experience in enhancing youth engagement and governance in public policy making. The government of the United Arab Emirates sees young people as its greatest assets of the future. In 2016, the position of the Minister of State for Youth was created in a testament to the government’s confidence in young capabilities. Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui was appointed the first Minister of State for Youth, to become the youngest Minister in the world. To further second the efforts for youth development and empowerment we have also focused on entrepreneurship, in this month, we launched our flagship movement the Entrepreneurial Nation. It is a movement that provides a holistic view towards entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates.

It consists of three main pillars. The first one is a Scallop Academy. This Scallop Academy targets on building an entrepreneurial mind-set across the different segments of the population. It has a strong focus on students in schools across the UAE and also university students and alumni. Multiple programs have been designed for students to learn what it takes to become an entrepreneur, mainly through building and running virtual companies and, also complementing that, with competitions to showcase the most innovative and creative business ideas. We want the students to think of which companies they will establish in the future rather than which career they are going to pursue. 

The second pillar targets the start-up phase of companies. Multiple programs have been designed to facilitate and support the establishment of companies in their early stages.

Moving to the third pillar, it focuses on the last stage of the companies’ development, which is the scale-up stage. Multiple key tracks have been designed to help companies in their journey towards becoming unicorns. 

We have special focus on those five tracks. The first one is digitization 

It aims at helping companies unlock the value of digital tools and concepts. Second, export promotion for the products of this companies to reach new markets easier and faster. Third is access to funding, be it equity or debt. It will provide the right level of financial support for your companies’ growth. Fourth is global expansion. It aims at supporting companies to establish themselves in new markets, with the United Arab Emirates being their launchpad. And finally, it is the business support programs. It aims at increasing the efficiency and productivity of these companies.

We are very optimistic that these efforts will take us closer to the fulfillment of the vision to make the UAE a home to 20 unicorns over the next ten years.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The future of any nation lies in the hands of its youth, and we are more than keen to contribute to driving forward youth empowerment among other Asian nations. Before concluding, I wish this forum a great success and a most rewarded participation to everyone. Thank you.