Khalifa Fund partners with Amazon to support Abu Dhabi SMEs

Abu Dhabi: 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).

The programme will see Amazon offering 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 Programme.

“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,” said Mohammad Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development and chairman of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development.

“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,” he added.

According to Amazon, More than 50 per cent of everything sold in their stores globally comes from third party sellers, most of which are SMEs.

Amazon.ae has also launched tools to help local businesses, including the Amazon Seller Mobile App, which allows selling partners to conduct business with more speed, ease and flexible options. Amazon also offers webinars targeted at local sellers.

“Supporting SMEs is a fundamental part of our work and an extension of our customer-centric culture,” said Ronaldo Mouchawar, vice president of Amazon Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

“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,” he added.

“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.”