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Rahul Preeth
Doha
Is an abundance of well-paid jobs restricting Qatari entrepreneurs from striking out on their own? Yes, according to details emerging from a first-of-its-kind strategy workshop that discussed ways to foster the startup ecosystem in Qatar.
Nearly 81 percent of working-age Qataris are employed in government entities or state-owned companies, according to Qatar Development Bank (QDB), which organised the workshop.
The bank's analysis showed that these high-paying jobs that come with the security of retirement pensions and other hefty benefits reduce the incentive for Qataris to become entrepreneurs, particularly on a full-time basis.
"As such, most Qatari entrepreneurs are full-time employees and part-time entrepreneurs," said Ibrahim Abdulaziz al Mannai, Executive Director for Advisory Services and Incubation at QDB.
This impacts the speed of startups' growth and hinders the development of an incubation landscape, he added on the sidelines of QDB's National Incubation Strategy Workshop held in Doha on Monday.
To address this and spur local startup innovation, QDB is planning to launch an entrepreneurship leave programme, which will offer two-year paid leaves to government employees establishing startups.
The move is expected to encourage self-employment in Qatar, which stands at 3.4 percent as of 2016-17 against 23.9 percent in Italy and 32.4 percent in Turkey.
As part of fostering Qatar's incubation ecosystem, QDB also plans to launch incubators designed to assist startups that deal with sports and financial technology, Mannai said.
They are expected to be launched by the fourth quarter of the year, he added.
The QDB workshop, which discussed the main challenges facing Qatari entrepreneurs and the appropriate solutions for them, was aimed at formulating a strategy to enhance the startup culture in Qatar.
"This strategy was designed as a direct result of rigorous studies that indicated the available opportunities in the various economic sectors in the Qatari market and to identify ways to transform gaps into opportunities through innovative projects," said QDB Chief Executive Officer Abdulaziz Nasser al Khalifa.
The workshop was attended by representatives from 23 government and semi-governmental entities as well as authorities responsible for entrepreneurship and development of small and medium enterprises in Qatar.
