The UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is working with the Ministry of Economy and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to launch a new international initiative to create a platform for funding small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said a report.

The SCA is coordinating with the Ministry of Economy, which will provide the regulatory and legislative framework for funding SMEs. Once the regulatory framework is created, the SCA and the markets will be prepared to launch the platform, Dr Obaid Al Zaabi, chief executive officer of the SCA, was quoted as saying in a Wam report.

According to the SCA, the process for funding such companies will involve monetary funds, which will have the authority to collect the necessary funding for these companies, it said.

The platform, which will be similar to crowdfunding, will manage quality control and handle issues related to accreditation and applying the Corporate Governance Charter.

Small and medium-sized companies are the main drivers of the UAE’s economy, and are key to supporting its strategic productivity structure, as they represents over 94 per cent of the total number of companies in the country, 73 per cent of the wholesale and retail trade sector, 16 per cent of the services sector, and 11 per cent of the industrial sector.

The number of such companies now exceeds 350,000, which provide work opportunities for over 86 per cent of the total private sector workforce. They also make up over 60 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which the ministry predicts to increase to 70 per cent by 2021.

In Dubai alone, small and medium-sized companies represent close to 95 per cent of all local companies and 42 per cent of the workforce, while making up some 40 per cent of the emirate’s GDP.

The UAE is continuing to help improve the performance of small and medium-sized companies, through initiatives and programmes that provide them with funding, added the report.