Half of SMEs to open branches on the moon by 2020

Half of SMEs to open branches on the moon by 2020

‘Global domination is not enough’ say SME owners, stroking white fluffy cats in large black chairs. Kipp thinks confidence is one thing, but crazy schemes are another…

January 23, 2011 3:47 by Samuel Potter

We’ve already explained how pretty much everyone likes confidence (especially women). But did you also know that that ambition can be pretty sexy too? That psycho guy from Gladiator even called it a virtue, right before he murdered his old man and made people kill each other for sport in the Colosseum. Not exactly the best character reference for ambition, come to think of it.

Anyway, though he may have been a homicidal nut, the character made a good point. He said ambition could be a virtue “when it drives us to excel.” And so it can be. Many great things have been achieved because of ambition. In fact, few great things are achieved without it.

So perhaps Kipp should rejoice: It turns out the small and medium sized enterprises of the UAE have ambition by the spade-full. In fact so much so, that we’re rather afraid that they end up smothering old men to death and usurping their positions of power.

According to HSBC’s bi-annual Small Business Confidence Monitor survey (a catchy name), more than half of UAE businesses expect to have global operations over the next two years. Yes, you read it right. More than half of SMEs expect to be global within 24 months. Now that is ambition.

“Intra-regional trade within the Middle East continues to develop at a steady pace, with opportunities for SMEs across a number of sectors. However, we believe that the growing importance of trade with emerging markets is also an important factor driving SMEs to consider international business as a revenue generator,” says Rana Al Emam, Head of Business Banking, HSBC UAE.

“In the UAE, 58 percent of businesses expect to be operating internationally by 2013, according to this round of results, reflecting an increasingly positive outlook across the SME sector.”

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