Emirates inks MoU with Jafza to support SMEs in Dubai

Dubai carrier Emirates and Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), have signed an MoU to explore joint cooperation and initiatives that are aimed at attracting more investments into Dubai by supporting new and existing businesses registered or licensed in the freezone.

Under the MoU, both parties will explore opportunities to offer a number of travel-related incentives for new and existing SMEs and larger businesses too, including potential enrolment in the airline’s Business Rewards programme.

Emirates currently has over 20,000 SMEs enrolled in its Business Rewards programme and is providing them with benefits including simplified enrolment, easier earning and redemptions, greater flexibility on retaining and using points in addition to upgrade opportunities.

Ahmad Al Haddad, chief operating officer, Parks and Zones, DP World UAE said that SMEs make up nearly 95 per cent of all companies, employing 42 per cent of the workforce and contributing around 40 per cent to Dubai’s GDP. “We are committed to our role as the economic driver for Dubai, building on our 33.4 per cent contribution to the emirate’s GDP,” said Al Haddad.

Adnan Kazim, chief commercial officer for Emirates Airline, added: “Emirates has been a long-standing supporter of a number of initiatives targeted to support SMEs and innovative start-ups in our home base the UAE, and today’s signing with Jafza reinforces our commitment to help stimulate diverse economic activity in Dubai by providing companies with a range of highly competitive travel incentives so they can scale up their businesses both regionally and globally.”

Over the course of the Expo 2020 Dubai, from November 15 onwards until the end of the Expo on March 31, the Emirates Business Rewards programme was structured such that its members could earn 25 per cent additional Business Rewards Points on their trip to Dubai. The offer enabled businesses to earn 1.25 Points for every US dollar spent on inbound flights to the emirate.