More than 30 Qatari home-based businesses are participating in the Ramadan Night Market organised by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) at the Mall of Qatar on Sunday. The market will run for the next two weeks.
QDB executive director for Advisory Services Ibrahim al-Mannai said the night market, which is being held in partnership with Bedaya Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (Bedaya Centre) and Mall of Qatar, aims to promote small businesses and expose them to a wider market.
“The night market is one of QDB’s multiple initiatives that we are trying to implement and this also serves as a platform that home-based business owners can use to validate their businesses by getting feedback from customers.
“This event can also help them understand the market further so that they can make the necessary improvements to their businesses and products,” al-Mannai told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the event.
He said a team from QDB went through a selection and screening process to choose “the best businesses” that can be presented at the night market. The team, he added, also considered the business’ maturity level and market presence.
Speaking on Bedaya Centre’s role in the night market initiative, general manager Reem al-Suwaidi said: “Bedaya Centre aims to assist startups, especially during the micro phase; and we’ve been doing that for the past five years through bazaars, advisory sessions, workshops, and other programmes. We have a lot of initiatives that cater to startups.”
Al-Mannai also noted that the night market is also part of QDB’s Home Based Businesses National Programme (HBBNP), an initiative launched in 2015 in collaboration with Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Molsa), Social Development Centre (SDC), and Qatar Chamber (QC).
As part of the HBBNP’s objectives, QDB and Qatar Chamber announced last month the launching of the ‘Made at Home’ exhibition slated in October to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
QDB said the launch of the ‘Made at Home’ aims to develop the capabilities of Qatari home entrepreneurs by offering them a unique opportunity to display and sell their products, create new marketing windows, exchange experiences with other home-based entrepreneurs involved in a wide range of specialised fields, promote local products, and encourage new entrepreneurial pursuits.
QDB also said HBBNP relies on the following principles: equality in importance of both home-based and commercial projects, promoting home-based businesses, preserving the nature of the economic project, respecting the privacy of the household; and sharing the responsibility to improve home-based projects.