Ministry of Economy to foster entrepreneurship ecosystem

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, on Thursday announced that the UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE) is to support EGA Ramp-Up, the company’s programme to foster the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE and help grow the national economy in line with the Entrepreneurial Nation strategy.

Abdulla Al Saleh, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Economy said: “The Ministry of Economy is committed to supporting the UAE’s entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity ecosystem by strengthening collaboration with like-minded private and public sector partners, in line with the ‘Projects of the 50’ to drive the country’s economic agenda and diversification programme. We are delighted to be partnering with EGA and look forward to supporting the EGA Ramp-Up programme to champion innovators and creative thinkers.”

Khalid Essa Buhumaid, Senior Vice President Government Relations at EGA said: “Through EGA Ramp-Up we aim to support entrepreneurs whose businesses will contribute to economic diversification and growth. We are honoured to partner with the Ministry of Economy on this programme, and together will work to support and boost even more entrepreneurs whose success will benefit both themselves and our nation.” The EGA Ramp-Up programme is attracting aspiring and recently-established entrepreneurs to a series of informative online courses on effective entrepreneurship. The programme will work even more closely with the most promising start-ups, providing mentoring support from a global network of experts. Start-ups aligned with EGA’s strategic objectives will be assessed for their eligibility to receive cash rewards and opportunities for collaboration with EGA.

The Ministry’s Entrepreneurial Nation platform will provide EGA Ramp-Up with greater access to budding entrepreneurs and support the programme’s outreach campaign. A member of the Entrepreneurial Nation team will join the EGA Ramp-Up evaluation panel which assesses entrepreneurs’ eligibility for support.

Applications for the EGA Ramp-Up programme are now open and more than 300 entrepreneurs have already registered for the first round. Applications will close on 27 January.

Entrepreneurship is one of the top priorities of the UAE and an important pillar of the 2071 Centennial plan. The National Agenda for Entrepreneurship and Small & Medium-sized Enterprises aims to make the country a destination of choice for global entrepreneurship by 2031.

EGA has partnered with C3 to deliver the programme. C3 is a UAE-based social enterprise that supports entrepreneurs across the region to unlock their growth potential and maximise their positive impact on the community and the environment.

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea. EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas.

In 2021, EGA sold 2.54 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2021, value-added products accounted for 84 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.