Fatma Samoura, FIFA Secretary General
Qatar’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have witnessed a significant growth over the last decade and are one of the major drivers for the economy. As the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 approaches the country is prepared for the mega sporting event and has a lot of business opportunities for MSMEs and international companies beyond World Cup discussed experts during a forum held, yesterday.
The second annual GWC Forum, entitled ‘Ready for the Game’, saw industry-wide experts who shared insights on making the most of opportunities presented by FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 while outlining the future growth roadmap in line with Vision 2030. QNB, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, announced its strategic partnership for this year’s GWC Forum and the forum partners also included Hamad Bin Khalifa University (research partner) and beIN SPORTS (media partner).
Fatma Samoura, FIFA Secretary General delivered the opening remarks. She said, “GWC is the official logistics provider for the FIFA World Cup and they ensure that delivery from all over the world make it to the eight FIFA World Cup stadiums. GWC started in 2004 as a very small warehousing company and just 18 years later it is handling the logistics for the FIFA World Cup. GWC journey illustrates the power and potential of small and medium sized enterprises.”
Samoura noted that SMEs represents backbone of a successful and diverse economy; they create jobs and foster innovation. “Qatar has seen a hike of innovations in recent years, developing cooling technologies for stadiums and state-of-the-art public transport infrastructure including the Doha Metro. GWC, its partners and stakeholders are utilising the assets and experience of hosting the FIFA World Cup to deliver an economic legacy that is aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030. One of Qatar’s great strengths is its determination to leverage the power of FIFA World Cup like no other country in history and it is heartening to see that the legacy being delivered even before the big kick off, she added.
The forum also included a panel session entitled ‘Direct and Indirect Impact of Qatar 2022 on MSMEs’ which discussed the impact of hosting the World Cup on MSMEs in various sectors of Qatar’s economy.
Addressing the panel discussion Jose Dhooma, Head of Logistics, FIFA said, in terms of logistics we are slightly ahead of what we need to be and shared about how FIFA works with small and medium sized businesses.
Speaking during the forum Syed Maaz, Chief Business Development Officer, GWC highlighted how GWC is supporting MSMEs in Qatar. “For Qatar specifically the MSMEs sector has grown over the last decade and is one of the major drivers for the economy. In last four years there has been a significant growth in what MSMEs have been providing to the economy and it also ties in with the Qatar National Vision 2030 to move away from the dependency of the fossil fuels and creating a self-sustainable economy.”
GWC has created an infrastructure to make it easy for new entrepreneurs and for MSMEs to do business, he noted. “We had a journey over the last 16 years from being a small warehousing company into managing 4 million square meters of warehousing in the country which is the largest in the region. The most recent one being the 1.5 million square meters in Al Wukair Warehousing Park which was launched in March 2022, specific to the MSMEs, so this creates a whole ecosystem for the small enterprises.”
“One of the biggest hurdles that small enterprises face other than the funding is the logistical challenges. We have created an ecosystem where it’s an integrated logistic facility where you have workshops, storage places and these are designated to multiple industries. This Wukair Logistics Park also houses the master logistics center for FIFA. This has created an ecosystem for small entrepreneurs and businesses to support and supply each other, thus eliminating the middleman and also reducing the cost, Maaz added.
Responding to a query on how the tournament has helped in generic sense the economy of Qatar, Fatma Al Nuaimi, Communications and Media Executive Director at Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said “Since we won the bid in 2010, we made sure to fulfill all the commitments. We have learned from previous mega events to start the legacy before the tournament that is investing in sporting infrastructure. We understand it is crucial to have involvement of private and business sector of Qatar.”
“There are a lot of opportunities for international companies to have their base in Qatar and a lot of global companies are already engaged and through the opportunity they see in the market as Qatar has developed plans even beyond the World Cup. On a yearly basis Qatar will host local and international sporting events beyond the World Cup such as the Asian Games in 2030, AFC Cup next year, so there are a lot of business opportunities for MSMEs and international companies to engage with us,” she added.
Nazli Berberoglu, General Manager of Coca-Cola Company, also participated in the discussion. The forum was moderated by Al Jazeera Network’s Senior News Anchor Emily Angwin.
