(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Deepak John |
The Peninsula
Innovation is a key determinant of productivity and long-term growth of companies. Supporting innovation in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups can foster growth, discussed panelists during an event. Speaking during the event, experts highlighted the need for development of the local products and communication with the public.
The panel discussion entitled 'Connecting businesses with the public' took place on the sidelines of the launch of 'National Product Week' event recently.
Addressing the audience, Saif Jassim Al Kuwari, Assistant Director - National Competitive Product Support, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) said,“MoCI is responsible for the perseveration of balance of the vital triangle of the producer, consumer, merchant. We responded fast during the pandemic and changed some legislation to develop some sectors and in our ministry, we adapted to technology with the international circumstances.”
“We have helped by providing licenses quickly and supported firms. Our ministry focused on digital transformation few years back, even licensing applications or requesting licenses has been done electronically. We have launched a single window system where all relevant entities have been brought together under one place which is a single window to apply online by submitting all the required documents.”
Al Kuwari elaborated that one of the key elements of the industrial strategy of Qatar is innovation of the SMEs and in order to support this strategy“we are about to add new products including e-services or e-programs to be part of the national product.”
Hamad Al Hajri, Chief Executive Officer of Snoonu discussed how the National Product Week is important for entrepreneurs and shared his experience.“We have Business-to-consumer (B2C), Business-to-business (B2B), and Business-to-government (B2G) strategies. B2B is regulated by the internal laws a there are different ways to access B2B and B2C whereas in case B2G, we as a national company have managed to engage with more vendors in the local market.”
He added,“We are a digital channel that introduces products and services to large pool of customers. Previously we used to have agreements with big shopping malls and complexes but now we are witnessing the digital age where the customer's order online.”
Speaking about the Snoonu app, he said:“We started to promote the national products through Snoonu app which is a fast-track approach. We have established a section for the national products and on the main page and have names of all the local vendors and businessmen.” Al Hajri also explained the challenges that entrepreneurs and startups face such as lack of funding, lack of e-commerce environment and lack of skills in the market.
Amr Suliman, Microsoft, Industry Lead Microsoft – Middle East said:“Empowering startups or businesses such as B2B, B2C, and B2G is one of our missions. The pandemic accelerated the digital transformation which resulted in using technologies like Teams, e-commerce platforms for different purposes to serve the customers efficiently and effectively. For example, Teams as an online platform has helped government and non-government entities to continue their business as usual without interruption to their business.”
“People have started to go online regardless of their products and even contractors have purchased steel and cement online which was difficult and unexpected before as new ideas emerged. Innovation is very important, and startups have started thinking in an innovative way,” he added.
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