Long-term economic development and institutional leadership top the Sharjah Entrepreneurship 2026 agenda

Yesterday, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), witnessed the opening of the activities of the ninth session of the “Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival”, which was launched with a program focusing on long-term economic development, institutional leadership, and the role of entrepreneurship in supporting the resilience of economies, with an expected attendance of more than 14 thousand participants, including company founders, investors, policy makers and business leaders from the UAE, the region and the world.

During the opening ceremony, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi witnessed the signing of three memorandums of understanding in the VIP lounge within the “Vault” area, sponsored by the Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emirates), designated to receive global leaders, speakers, officials and dignitaries.

The first memorandum of understanding between Bee’ah Group and Sheraa revealed the launch of an entrepreneurship program within institutions, and Arada Real Estate Development and Sheraa signed the second memorandum of understanding to conclude an official three-year partnership aimed at strengthening and expanding the entrepreneurship system in Sharjah. The third agreement came between the Emirates Growth Fund and Sheraa, as part of their joint efforts to support the growth of small and medium enterprises and emerging companies.

In her speech during the opening ceremony, Vice President of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center “Sheraa”, Najla Al Midfa, affirmed that “Sharjah looks at time through the eyes of generations, not through the eyes of months, and measures success by what it creates for a person and the quality of his life, not by the size of the returns alone.” She explained that more than 17,000 small and medium companies operate today in the emirate, as a direct result of a vision that began decades ago, when Sharjah invested in building institutions, opened its doors for business, and provided projects with an environment that… Enables it to stabilize and grow.

In turn, the Executive Director of Sheraa, Sarah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, said: “Every entrepreneurial path begins with a first step, but the real difference between founders lies in their ability to continue despite the absence of certainty and working away from the spotlight,” noting that entrepreneurship does not often follow a straight path, but rather goes through stages of pressure and unresolved questions, and periods in which entrepreneurs feel that progress is slower than they planned.

Sheikh Fahim Al Qasimi, Head of the Government Relations Department, said during a session titled “Building the Future of the Food Economy”: “What we are learning here in the Emirate of Sharjah is that leadership based on conviction and commitment to looking at the long term are the basis for the growth of various sectors, and when the focus is on sustainability and flexibility, and working within clear frameworks that ensure continued development, we see real results on the ground, and the sector becomes able to grow and build for the future.”