The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, an independent non-profit agency of Abu Dhabi, has launched its ‘Level Up’ project, which aims to help entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized (SMEs), and startups in embracing new opportunities that would help them stabilize, strengthen, and scale up their business.
The program will focus on elevating priority sectors in Abu Dhabi by speeding up the development of homegrown companies, creating sector jobs, and accelerating the UAE’s transformation to a knowledge-based economy. It seeks to provide high-quality, professional support to up to ten successful enterprises SMEs and startups in order to help them sustain their business growth.
The success of this project will help to boost the post-COVID-19 recovery potential, with the goal of transforming Abu Dhabi and the UAE into a more creative and innovative hub.
Mouza Al Nasri Acting CEO Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development
“We are keen to have more small and medium-sized businesses joining us, as we aim to boost their forward-looking capacity, resilience and responsiveness, rebuilding from the pandemic in a way that bolsters competitiveness and helps empower them with more opportunities to go green amid the global climate change crisis.”
During the event, Ms. Al Nasri emphasized that entrepreneurs, SMEs, and startups are the key contributors to the UAE’s economy. The fund has put it at the heart of this effort, which aims to give easy access to new markets, technologies, and knowledge.
Starting with agriculture, ‘Level Up’ will be implemented in consecutive stages, each lasting between 2 and 4.5 months depending on the specialized area. Two months of learning and mentoring will be followed by a forum and demo day, as well as two meet-up events. Finance, ICT, health services, biopharma, Agricultural Technology (AgTech), tourism, and real estate are among the other sectors to be covered.
The first stage of the initiative, titled “Reimaging the Future of Agriculture and Food,” will run from October 1 to December 6, 2021, with the goal of speeding the development of resilient and sustainable agricultural techniques in order to contribute to the National Food Security Strategy 2051.
