Hussain al Nowais has announced the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (KFED) will be launching its program online and will be expanding it this year. The Khalifa Fund’s aim is to foster the growth of a new generation of Emirati entrepreneurs by cultivating an enriching culture of investment amongst young people. The fund will also provide supporting services to small and medium sized businesses that are developing in the Emirate. This support for SME’s should provide them with the fertile ground necessary for competitive growth. The culture this creates will hopefully be one of sustainable growth and innovation that contributes to Abu Dhabi’s economic and social development.
During the discussion titled “From Investment to Innovation” Hussain al Nowais discussed how he hopes the Khalifa Fund will help emirates holdings by partnering with education, development and investment institutions. Currently the Fund is developing frameworks for those SMEs which will go into incubation and what the best course of action is. The Khalifa Fund hopes to help bring all of Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E.’s systems online within the next two years or so to help it keep up with their rapid growth.
Hussain Al Nowais emphasized the need for government to build and strengthen the knowledge capital to facilitate the process of transition to a knowledge-based economy through coping with the development, growth and investment center and continuing in the development of human capital and the development of the curricula of the education and support of information and communication technology sector. Also, increase the investments in infrastructure either through investment in optical fibers or increase number of receiving towers in order to increase the coverage and internet speed.
Abu Dhabi has made a particularly strong effort in developing electronic technologies in order to improve the quality of government services provided and improve the exchange of information electronically. So far the government has over 1,200 of its services available electronically has launched over 52 government applications. These are the underpinnings according to Hussain al Nowais that are necessary for creating a stronger emirates holding along with political stability, religious tolerance and freedom of expression.
There are already 514 companies registered for the Khalifa Fund and benefitting from either or both the financial and non-financial services. This Fund’s aim is to create a gateway that will help push the U.A.E. farther forward and make it an information and science capital in the Middle East. Since the Fund’s launch in 2013 it has added over 1,500 pieces of content in English and Arabic regarding research and has created numerous success stories out of small and medium enterprises.