Dubai, UAE – Since the beginning of 2023, the Arab Gulf countries have launched three digital and physical platforms to attract local and foreign investments as part of their ongoing efforts to diversify their investments and public revenues to avoid the challenges associated with fluctuating oil prices.
The new platforms launched by Qatar, Oman and Kuwait facilitate investment operations for foreigners and the private sector in these countries.
Besides introducing an investor to the most promising sectors, the platforms also provide incentives to entrepreneurs to encourage them to launch their businesses.
In recent years, the rest of the Gulf countries have launched various digital platforms to achieve the same goals, particularly considering the region’s transformation into an investment destination owing to its economic recovery.
Saudi Arabia
Yasser Al-Rumayyan, the Governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced on March 14, 2023 that the fund would create a platform dedicated to promoting new investment opportunities in the Kingdom.
Al-Rumayyan stated that the new platform would benefit suppliers and increase investors’ participation within the Kingdom.
He also emphasized the importance of the private sector’s participation in achieving Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, noting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pays special attention to attracting investments, engaging the private sector and enhancing its role in economic development.
Qatar
The Qatar Investment Promotion Agency launched the latest Gulf investment platform on April 4, 2023.
In a statement, the agency said it had launched the “Invest Qatar Portal,” the country’s first digital platform dedicated to assisting investors.
“This platform provides free online resources to foreign investors and companies in Qatar, as well as the necessary resources to support business development and expansion plans in the country,” it added.
The agency added that investors could use this portal to research current tenders, communicate with other members and contact the investor relations team at the Investment Promotion Agency for direct assistance in establishing and expanding businesses, companies and projects across various sectors.
The UAE
The most prominent investment platform in the UAE is “Invest in Dubai”, launched in February 2021 by the city’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
The platform was created to provide a unified digital window that allows investors to obtain commercial licenses and start a business in just a few minutes. It saves investors time and effort by utilizing government networks and harnessing advanced technology to ensure the investor’s journey to establish a business is easy and smooth.
The platform also supports Dubai’s comprehensive and integrated digital transformation, accelerates digital transformation paths and broadens the scope of its services to include all sectors, including investment and business.
It also provides integrated and well-thought-out investment opportunities in all sectors. It contributes to the strengthening of the complementary role principle with partners.
Oman
Oman preceded Qatar when its Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Promotion opened the “Invest in Oman” hall at the Civil Aviation Authority building in Muscat last February.
The hall is part of the efforts to improve the country’s business environment and attract and localize foreign investment.
Additionally, per international best practices, the “Invest in Oman” hall serves as a unified window to offer investors all services and investment opportunities in the country.
All the processes and requirements for establishing, operating and completing the investment project in the country can be fulfilled through this hall, which has an electronic platform.
Kuwait
Another early adopter of investment platforms this year was Kuwait, which formally unveiled the “Zad platform” in January 2023.
The platform is the first of its kind in Kuwait, and it aims to change the concept and mechanisms of financial investment in the Kuwaiti market and elsewhere.
Through its many services, Zad offers global investment opportunities to its users in Kuwait and around the world, ensuring access to and trading on more than 4,000 shares, as well as listed trading funds (ETFs), in full compliance with Islamic law principles and Kuwait Capital Markets Authority regulations.
Zad became a subsidiary of Securities House, a public shareholding company, after the company invested in this platform, believing in the importance and efficacy of its service in this technological transformation and keeping pace with the investment market.
“In today’s economic world, secondary sources of income have become necessary to preserve and develop wealth and investment has become more appealing to the younger generation compared to what it can earn if it deposits its money in a bank,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Kharafi, CEO of FinTech and co-founder of the new platform.
In a statement, Al-Kharafi added that “investment opportunities were not always available, as the investor first required a large amount of capital to start trading, and information and knowledge about the stock market were not readily available.”