Dubai: Forget the often-quoted platitudes you hear about starting your business, especially those lines about setting your own hours and not having to answer to a boss. Most small business owners will tell you running your own business will require all of your former “free time” and the patience to track down the information you need to survive.
Apart from lack of sufficient information, SMEs face other problems, including high cost of licences, visas and insurance work, as well as “working with banks,” say small business owners. Fahed Shahadat, a local owner of “outly.net” said one of the first problems is that no one would want to talk to you.
“No one is interested in SMEs, most and foremost, because small businesses bring lots of headache,” said Shahadat. “As an example, the banks would give you [financial] facilities that require a whole yard of paper work and documentation,” he told Gulf News.
To find someone to “invest in a business plan or an idea is very difficult in the whole Middle East,” he said, adding that some of the digital business laws also need further clarification and transparency.
