Following the June 5 economic blockade, Qatari entrepreneurs are now changing the dynamics of running home-based businesses, an official said.

“Home-based businesses usually start out as hobbies for Qatari entrepreneurs,” said Najat al-Abdullah, head of the Department for Family Affairs at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, during the announcement of the staging of the first ‘Made at Home’ exhibition from October 1 to 5 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
“But because of the siege, many Qatari entrepreneurs are enhancing the products of their small businesses because they also want to provide for the needs of the market and support the development of the economy,” she continued.
The inaugural edition of the ‘Made at Home’ exhibition is organised by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), in partnership with Qatar Chamber, said QBD CEO Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Khalifa.
According to al-Khalifa, 144 exhibitors will be participating in the event to showcase a wide variety of home-made products ranging from food, beverages, clothing, and other items.
Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the event, al-Khalifa said the exhibition is an offshoot of the Home-based Business National Program (HBBNP), a comprehensive small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) outreach programme launched by QDB in 2015.
He noted that the HBBNP aims to stimulate the private sector by facilitating the entry of a greater variety of SMEs into the local economy.
The ‘Made at Home’ expo shines a spotlight on homemade products and supports home-based entrepreneurs to overcome challenge and barriers when entering the market, he said.
Al-Khalifa noted that QDB aims to develop the capabilities of Qatari home-based entrepreneurs by offering them a unique opportunity to display and sell their products, create new marketing windows for their commodities, and exchange experiences with other similar businesses involved in a wide range of specialised fields.
The exhibition is also strategically-aligned with QDB’s basic organisational principles of promoting local products and encouraging new entrepreneurial pursuits, he pointed out.
“Our first-of-its-kind homemade products exhibition signals the beginning of a new era of prosperity for local home-based businesses in Qatar and ensures the success of hard-working, productive families who in their own unique capacity are actively contributing towards the social and economic development of the State of Qatar,” al-Khalifa said.
Qatar Chamber director general Saleh bin Hamad al-Sharqi said: “The partnership with QDB helps in meeting the cornerstone of our organisational strategy to support commercial productivity be it by businesses or families in Qatar. Through this exhibition, we aim to help home-based entrepreneurs develop their products further and introduce them formally to the local market.”
He added: “The idea of this exhibition came from the successful participation of home-based businesses during our previous editions of the ‘Made in Qatar’ exhibition, where homemade products attracted a great number of visitors.”