Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Under the Abu Dhabi Inspires programme, the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development has partnered with Amazon to launch the E-Empower programme – an initiative that aims to support and develop Abu Dhabi-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs by providing interactive eLearning content that will help small businesses thrive in the digital economy. The new programme will also offer tools and insights to SMEs on how they can expand their businesses to reach millions of customers via Amazon.ae.
As part of its continuous commitment to enabling small business entrepreneurship, Amazon will be offering the thousands of businesses that make up the Abu Dhabi SME community access to more than 50 hours of learning content, in addition to four months of dedicated seller support as part of the E-Empower program. Empowering them to expand their online capabilities and unlock business growth, the program includes free online training sessions, expert advice, and a host of educational support, including step-by-step guides to establishing and growing businesses on Amazon.ae.
The partnership has been announced as part of the ‘Abu Dhabi Inspires’ programme which was launched in order to drive forward innovative responses to current realities, promoting agile thinking in government and in the community, and supporting bright minds to invent, develop and launch tangible ideas that will have a positive impact on people now and into the future.
His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development and Chairman of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, commented: “Going beyond the traditional role of a SME developer, Khalifa Fund is dedicated to guiding and growing the SME community and entrepreneurial ecosystem of the UAE by establishing partnerships with global industry leaders like Amazon. This new partnership is a natural next step in our journey to promote innovation, further develop the UAE’s SME sector, and ultimately support the growth of our national entrepreneurial culture, in line with the Abu Dhabi Vision. We are confident that, together with Amazon, we will empower entrepreneurs across a diverse range of industries to take their businesses to the next level in the e-commerce space”.
He added: "The partnership between Khalifa Fund and Amazon will bring about groundbreaking benefits for UAE entrepreneurs; participating businesses who complete and graduate from E-Empower can expect exclusive benefits from Amazon, such as jump-starting their growth journey on Amazon.ae through the tailored curriculum and personalized recommendations on programs and features to accelerate their growth. Graduates will also have access to Amazon selling partner benefits such as easy listing tools, payment processing, and promotional features to help them get discovered by customers.”
Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, launched a legal trade license named “E-commerce license” to practice the activity and create trust between the seller and the consumer in various sectors within the Emirate. The license aims to encourage entrepreneurs to reinforce their activity through electronic trade and commercial channels for existing projects and businesses.
Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East and North Africa (MENA), said: “At Amazon, supporting SMEs is a fundamental part of our work and an extension of our customer-centric culture. Our partnership with small businesses spans the company as they sell their products online, run delivery companies, publish books, and create new apps and services using our cloud services – their success is our success. That’s part of the reason that in 2020, Amazon plans to have invested more than $18 billion in logistics, tools, services, programs, and people to foster the growth of our SME sellers.”
“The partnership with Khalifa Fund marks a key milestone in our ongoing efforts in the MENA region to champion small businesses within our local communities. We are confident that our efforts with the Khalifa Fund will see us welcome more Abu Dhabi entrepreneurs to Amazon.ae, as they choose to grow their businesses with us.”
More than 50% of everything sold in Amazon’s stores globally comes from third party sellers, most of which are SMEs. Amazon.ae has progressively launched tools to help local businesses, including the Amazon Seller Mobile App, which allows Selling Partners to conduct business with more speed, ease, and flexibility. Amazon efforts also include webinars targeted at local sellers. Working with partners such as the Khalifa Fund, Amazon will continue to drive educational initiatives forward across the UAE and wider region.
For more information on the E-Empower program and how to sign-up, please visit: https://services.amazon.ae/e-empower.html
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About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
About Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development
Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development was established in 2007, by the virtue of the Law 14 of 2005 and its amendments, in the implementation of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi. The Khalifa Fund works as an independent, not-for-profit economic development agency of the Government of Abu Dhabi for the development and support of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Fund helps to develop local enterprises in Abu Dhabi through instilling and enriching an investment culture amongst UAE nationals. The Fund also seeks to support and develop SMEs in the Emirate.
Khalifa Fund was founded in 2007 with a total capital of AED 300 million, which gradually increased in 2009 to AED 1 billion, in order to meet the growing demand for the Fund’s services. In 2011, the Fund’s total capital was increase to AED 2 billion, and the Fund covered all of the UAE through a network of branches.
About ‘Abu Dhabi Inspires’
Abu Dhabi Inspires is a programme of initiatives that transform adversity into opportunity.
Launched in order to drive forward innovative responses to current realities, Abu Dhabi Inspires will include initiatives that capture emerging opportunities, tap into new trends and have a positive impact on people now and into the future.
Three pillars define the focus of the programme, which is aimed at all sections of the community: Virtual Experiences, Constant Innovation and Community Solidarity.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Cameron Hurrion
KBS Communications
cameron@kbscommunications.ae
© Press Release 2020
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