Mini industrial city set to offer fillip for startups

SDH Department of Projects and Investments director Munzir al-Daood said the incubation centre’s management and employees have already occupied its offices last month.

Al-Daood said the incubation centre provides three types of services such as office space and workshops, management support services, internal and external relations as well as networking that supports incubators and startups.

The centre has been established on a 20,000sq m area and would house 16 industrial workshops.

It can also accommodate 75 establishments during the first phase of operations. Expansion plans are also in place, once more establishments occupy the area. During the inauguration ceremony, al-Daood presented the results of the entrepreneurship system in the last 14 years, which he said reflects the philosophy of searching for solutions to problems faced by Qatar entrepreneurs.

Citing the Sheikha Haya tailoring factory, he said the company witnessed “a great leap” in the last few years after reaching an annual production capacity of 60,000 pieces.

But al-Daood noted that it would be difficult to relocate the factory to the centre due to constraints in space.

Al-Daood also underscored the importance of the SDH management’s independence in developing projects. He stressed that the SDH is qualified for expanding its tasks and socio-economic role.

He said the SDH will organise economic and industrial fairs, and added that it has already completed the study for the development of the “Entrepreneurs Support Fund.”

The incubator project was established in 2011 under a partnership between the SDH and Qatar Development Bank.

The Businesses Incubator–Qatar started operations in March 2014 after accepting 37 applications. The projects committee held a meeting and selected 15 new projects that were included in the incubator projects in May 2014, al-Daood said.