São Paulo – Expo 2020 Dubai invested AED 2.4 billion (USD 653 million at current exchange rates) in small- and medium-sized businesses until last March and signals more contracts will come for this sector as it progresses to the next phase of delivery, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM), the official news agency of the Arab country.
Expo 2020 is a world exhibition that occurs occasionally, each time in a different country, with the participation of most countries in the world. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will host the next edition of the show to run from October 2020 to April 2021.
Expo 2020 organizers have committed to diverting 20% of its total direct and indirect spend towards local or foreign SMEs. As construction on the site nears completion, organizers are urging more SMEs to register on Expo’s Online Marketplace (OMP) to take advantage of new tenders soon to be listed.
“The upcoming wave of new tenders will span a variety of sectors,” said Expo 2020 Dubai associate director Jaber Nasser, as reported by WAM. According to him, small- and medium-sized enterprises will be very important for the next wave and new tenders will be worth billions of dirhams. All Expo 2020 product and service offers are exclusively listed on the OMP.
Nasser sayd that almost 35,000 businesses from more than 151 countries are registered on the Marketplace Online. “The OMP is an invaluable tool for matching suppliers with the extensive business opportunities Expo 2020 offers,” he said. “We want to encourage even more, especially SMEs, to register to collaborate with Expo 2020, its extensive network of partners and each other,” he added.
The call comes on 27 June, declared World SME Day by the United Nations. In addition to invest part of its contracts to these companies, Expo 2020 organizers have pioneered other initiatives to make it easier for them to do business with the event, including clearing payments in 30 days instead of 90 days, guaranteeing a 50% payment upfront when procuring goods, or 25% when contracting services, and others.
Expo 2020 Dubai will be held from 20 October 2020 until 10 April 2021 and expects 25 million visits. A celebration of creativity, culture and collaboration, 192 countries, educational establishments, companies and multilateral organizations will take part.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
