Shams launches Trader Package to attract SMEs and startups in the MENA region

The UAE’s ecommerce market is fast-growing and is estimated to reach $8 billion by 2025 - a 60% increase from its rate in 2021. A big shift in this consumer behaviour can be attributed to Covid-19, but also to exceptional government support and its keen focus on entrepreneurship.

Businesses in Sharjah have long benefited from its low-cost base, exceptional infrastructure, and proximity with all the 6 Emirates in the UAE. Sharjah’s diversified economy and its negligible reliance on hydrocarbons is yet another reason why it is successfully encouraging a more interconnected and diverse business milieu.

The New Trader Package by Shams 

Another feature in Sharjah’s cap is the Trader Package by Sharjah Media City (Shams). The license will draw SMEs and startups to the MENA region and further creativity and entrepreneurship in the Emirate. The Trader Package combines two elements in one; ecommerce activity and general trading. The license will allow entrepreneurs to import and export products in the UAE while engaging in ecommerce activities. 

Previously, when individuals wanted to start ecommerce businesses, they could sell online but were only allowed to acquire goods locally. They needed another license to be able to import or export products.

With the newly launched Trader Package, Shams has simplified the process of ecommerce for businesses and made the licensing process more cost-effective as well. The objective of the initiative is to help people start their own ecommerce businesses with ease.

Changing the business milieu - for good

Sharjah Media City (Shams) is a digitally born free zone authority that was founded in 2017 by His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. Located in Al Messaned, Sharjah, the sprawling multi-use media city draws talent in various fields of professional endeavours from across the globe.

Shams is a regional leader in the media and creative industries and offers a variety of tools to produce high-quality content, in step with global standards. The free zone offers services that are carefully chosen to produce cost-effective solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), established businesses, and independent contractors that can help them start their own businesses in a hassle-free way.

Shams provides businesses an opportunity to choose from a broad array of business activities.  Over the years, the free zone has drawn foreign direct investment from all over the world. Shams’s objective is to create future change agents who will apply the expertise and knowledge gained at the free zone across international platforms, paving the way for the future.

UAE: The E-commerce market leader in the MENA region

The United Arab Emirates has the privilege of being the fastest-growing country in the ecommerce market across the entire MENA region thanks to a flourishing online retail industry. Currently estimated to be worth a whopping AED 104 billion, the UAE's e-commerce business is expected to increase by an average of 23% every year. The UAE has gained recognition as the world's centre for e-commerce due to a number of factors, including

• An exponential rise in online shopping trends;
• Impact of Covid-19 on e-commerce;
• The rise in tech-savvy consumers;
• Phenomenal growth in online retail/ecommerce businesses;
• UAE government’s massive support for local businesses;
• Growth of social media;
• Convenient and hassle-free licencing procedure
  
  

As well as being a hub for a plethora of established businesses, the UAE serves as a haven for the growing ecommerce market. Shams is one such platform that encourages and provides all conceivable support to startups in their pursuit to grow and play a positive role in the development of the country.

To that end, Shams makes it very easy to establish a business in Sharjah for a minimum of AED 5,750. In addition, for a trading or service license with no quota on visas, prices start at just AED 11,000.

Shams’s new initiative, the Trader Package which is just for AED 6,500 (E-commerce + General Trading)  is another major milestone that will push prospective entrepreneurs and SMEs to establish their footprint in the growing ecommerce industry by taking advantage of the many benefits the free zone offers.