On 6 September 2026 the UAE Council for Entrepreneurship, chaired by Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, reviewed the first-year results of the national campaign "The Emirates: The Startup Capital of the World". The headline number — active SME licences in the country are up more than 900% since 2000 and 140% since 2020. Small and medium-sized business now accounts for 95% of all UAE companies and 85% of private-sector employment. We break down what sits behind the figures and what they mean for founders planning to set up in the Emirates.
What the Council discussed and why it matters
The 6 September 2026 meeting of the UAE Council for Entrepreneurship was the first public check-in on a campaign announced exactly a year earlier under directives from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The campaign's goal is to make the UAE a global startup leader within five years — attracting and training 10,000 entrepreneurs, lifting the SME share of non-oil GDP and supporting Emirati youth in building internationally competitive projects.
At the meeting the Council endorsed the next block of initiatives: launching the StartupEmirates.ae platform as a single entry point for founders, training 10,000 UAE citizens through the Entrepreneurship Programme, and licensing 500 Emiratis as project management experts for residential construction — feeding a fast-growing property market.
SME licences: a tenfold jump in two decades
According to the data presented at the meeting, the number of active small and medium-sized business licences in the country has risen by more than 900% since 2000 and by 140% since 2020 alone. In other words, in the last five years the SME market added as many active companies as it built up over the first decade and a half of the observation window. This is the segment that today makes up 95% of all UAE companies and 85% of private-sector employment — a share comparable with the most mature SME economies globally.
For a practising founder that means the regulatory perimeter and service layer around company formation has been rebuilt in recent years specifically for mass small business — from electronic licensing procedures in free zones, to banking products for micro-business, to digital taxpayer cabinets. What that looks like on the ground — from picking a jurisdiction to opening a bank account — we cover in a separate guide: how to set up a company in the UAE in 2026: step-by-step order.
Year-one campaign results: the numbers
The Council also presented the first twelve months of campaign delivery — the picture shows both where the state is working point-by-point and where it is building systemically:
- 41 government initiatives launched across nine areas of entrepreneurship support;
- more than 400 Emirati entrepreneurs — men and women — trained and qualified;
- 214 citizens passed through the Riyada programme with a 97% satisfaction rate;
- government procurement generated AED 202 million for SME suppliers overall;
- 405 businesses registered in the unified suppliers registry;
- sector-specific licensing and training covered 30 real estate companies, 46 tax agents, 40 project management experts and 49 families under the Emirati Families programme;
- 100 student projects received support.
The procurement breakdown: AED 78.6 million came from 55 contracts with seven federal entities, and a further AED 123.4 million was added at federal level. For a segment where an early-stage venture's key problem is predictable revenue, a government contract for an SME supplier is arguably less about the revenue itself and more about a market and lender signal that the company has a proven, state-funded counterparty.
UAE in the global entrepreneurship rankings
The Council reinforced the domestic numbers with an international context. According to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2025/2026 report, the UAE ranks first globally on the overall entrepreneurship index for the fifth consecutive year. Separately, the country places second globally on entrepreneurial finance — access to funding for founders. In other words, international researchers are recording not only company growth but also the quality of the resources available to the founder: capital, infrastructure, regulatory maturity.
For an investor or founder comparing jurisdictions to launch in, that signal outweighs any general declaration: the UAE institutional environment for SMEs is globally recognised as one of the most mature, and on funding — one of the most accessible.
What it changes for founders planning SMEs in the UAE
The first practical implication is new support channels. Several mechanisms tested through the campaign will keep running: the unified suppliers registry for government procurement, Riyada training programmes, dedicated tracks for tax agents and project management experts. Founders already in the market or planning to register in the coming months can build these mechanisms into their business plan upfront — as a realistic channel for first contracts and specialised training for the team.
The second is sector focus. The Council explicitly highlights three verticals: real estate (30 companies onboarded, plus 500 future experts to manage residential projects), tax (46 licensed agents) and project management (40 experts). These are the niches where the state is actively priming the market for the current investment cycle — and, at the same time, the niches where demand for a qualified SME contractor will grow faster than the broader market over the next few years.
The third is regulatory predictability. A 140% jump in SME licences in five years would not have happened without a parallel rewrite of the rules of the game: 100% foreign ownership in the mainland, corporate tax reform, electronic licensing procedures and digital FTA cabinets. How those changes land in 2026 and what a founder should not miss — we cover in the guide UAE business regulation in 2026: what has really changed.
A practical note for founders planning a launch now: watch for the StartupEmirates.ae platform going live as the single support entry point, and check upfront whether the planned activity fits the campaign's priority niches. The Council for Entrepreneurship formally meets quarterly, so the next progress check-in — and, likely, the next support mechanisms — should land by the end of 2026.
Prepared by the garant.consulting editorial team on the basis of statements from the UAE Council for Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Economy and Tourism data and Gulf News reporting. Publisher — Garant Business Consultancy DMCC, Dubai.
