Emirates Development Bank Launches Billion-Dirham Growth Fund for UAE SMEs

Editorial Team

Last updated 22-05-2025

3 min

Emirates Development Bank launched the billion-dirham Emirates Growth Fund to support UAE SMEs.

The fund targets SMEs in the "middle gap" needing strategic and financial support.

Investments involve minority stakes, keeping control with founders while offering governance and growth support.

Annual revenue of 10 million dirhams is needed, with 10-50 million dirham investments per company.

The initiative aligns with UAE goals in manufacturing, food security, healthcare, and advanced tech.

There's some rather promising news from the UAE this week. Emirates Development Bank has announced it's kicking off a billion-dirham initiative, appropriately called the Emirates Growth Fund. This isn't just your regular business funding; it's specifically tailored to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the country really hit their stride on the global stage.

According to the bank, the fund aims to speed things up for promising local SMEs, providing them with the kind of long-term financing and strategic backing they've perhaps struggled to secure elsewhere. The idea is to target entrepreneurs who are past their scrappy, early financing phase but aren't quite suited to traditional venture capital or private equity yet—those businesses finding themselves in a tricky middle ground known simply as the "middle gap."

Apparently, the Emirates Growth Fund will be looking to invest actively through minority stakes, meaning the reins stay firmly in the founders' hands. On hand, though, will be plenty of strategic support in crucial areas like improving governance, fine-tuning growth plans, boosting operational efficiency, and encouraging corporate transformation.

Businesses that catch their interest will typically be bringing in at least 10 million dirhams annually, and the investment size per company will hover neatly between 10 and 50 million dirhams. The bank's made no secret of the sectors they're particularly excited about—manufacturing, food security, healthcare, and advanced technologies top their list. It's all very much aligned with the UAE's wider strategic aims to bolster local supply chains, expand the industrial base, and generate quality employment opportunities for talented locals.

Dr Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Sports and also chairman of the fund, neatly summed up the purpose: "Through active support and patient capital, we're focusing on bridging that crucial funding gap SMEs face when they're too established for traditional venture cash but too innovative for private financing methods. These companies, while niche, are absolutely essensial to a vibrant economy and have immense potential to elevate our industrial landscape and create meaningful jobs."

The first firm receiving this financial backing is already known: Tarmim Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital, a promising healthcare provider that's expected to benefit greatly.

I reckon a lot of SMEs across the UAE will be feeling pretty encouraged by news like this. After all, anyone who's ever run (or tried to run) their own business knows just how valuable stable yet flexible financial backing can be. Hats off then—this could be precisely what's needed to help more Emirati businesses go from strength to strength.

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