Small and Home businesses at MIA open bazaar in Doha.
Local entrepreneurs and home business owners can now showcase their products and services to a larger audience with a new initiative by Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) and Qatar Chamber (QC). The initiative, in coordination with Ministry of Economy and Commerce, will govern and regulate solo consumer (entrepreneurial) exhibitions, in accordance with the needs of the Qatari market.
The initiative will allow licensed small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), home business owners and roaming salespeople to showcase their products and services through exhibitions that are regulated to protect the rights of Qatari business owners and consumers.
The initiative comes after a series of meetings and discussions between QTA, QC, local entrepreneurs and exhibition organisers. Key outcomes of the meetings included establishing best practices for holding independent consumer exhibitions and safety and security requirements.
The new regulations were developed by QTA and QC with a particular focus on ensuring that they benefit Qatari entrepreneurs, especially owners of micro-enterprises (roaming and home business owners) and SMEs, in addition to providing a broader range of choices for consumers.
QTA announced that it is now accepting applications to register consumer exhibitions due to take place in 2017. Applications should be submitted to QTA through an exhibition organising company that is operating in Qatar and licensed by QTA before 9 March 2017.
Applications will be reviewed against the new rules and regulations, including stipulations that all exhibiting companies should be Qatari-owned, that no more than 15 exhibitors participate, and that the exhibition last no longer than six days.
And, in a move to prevent saturation of the local exhibitions market, QTA and QC have also implemented new controls to prevent overlap of exhibitions in the same field. Should more than one application be made to hold exhibitions in similar fields at the same time and in the same municipality, a draw will be held at Qatar Chamber to select the exhibition that will be licensed to go ahead, and the results of the draw will be made public.
While there are no limits on how many exhibitions can be held by exhibition organising companies, entrepreneurs and owners of micro-enterprises and SMEs may only participate in two solo consumer exhibitions per year. Business owners can partake in other types of exhibitions, such as trade shows and expos taking place on the sidelines of festivals and tourism events.
“After the announcement to legalise and regulate this sector of the economy, it was the natural next step for us to do our part in creating a healthy and competitive ecosystem in which Qatari entrepreneurs have equal opportunities to showcase their products and services. The comprehensive analysis of the Qatar market that we conducted in collaboration with QC, and the meetings held with local business owners, were critical in helping us arrive at the ideal set of regulatory measures,”said Mohamed Al Ansari, Director of Tourism Licensing at QTA.
Meanwhile, Saleh Al Sharqi, Director General of Qatar Chamber, commented, “Qatar Chamber consistently strives to coordinate with government entities, including QTA, to streamline processes for Qatari companies, particularly entrepreneurs and owners of micro-enterprises, in support of the national economy. The new measures taken by QTA to regulate entrepreneurial exhibitions are the culmination of joint efforts to support such initiatives. QC will continue to collaborate with QTA and other government entities to put regulations in place for other exhibition categories.”
