The United Arab Emirates has maintained its global leadership in the entrepreneurial environment, securing the top position worldwide for the fifth consecutive year in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report for 2025/2026. This achievement surpasses numerous developed economies and reaffirms the UAE’s status as the premier location for launching and conducting new business ventures globally.
In this report, the UAE ranked first among high-income economies in eight specific indicators, including: physical infrastructure, government policies regarding support and suitability, tax and bureaucratic policies, governmental entrepreneurship programs, transfer of research and development, market dynamics, regulatory burdens, and entrepreneurial education. This reflects a well-integrated and advanced environment that fosters entrepreneurship and the establishment of innovative startups.
Additionally, the country achieved a remarkable second place globally in the indicators of entrepreneurial financing and access to capital, highlighting the robustness of its financial system and its capability to support entrepreneurs, which enhances opportunities for startup growth and expansion.
The UAE is among only four countries that have successfully met or exceeded the ‘sufficiency’ level across all criteria in the entrepreneurial framework evaluated by the index. This underscores the UAE’s environment as one of the best in the world, backed by solid infrastructure, supportive policies, and digital readiness.
His Excellency Abdullah Bin Touq Al Mari, Minister of Economy and Tourism, expressed pride in the UAE’s global ranking in developing its entrepreneurial ecosystem. He noted that this accomplishment positions the country as the most supportive economy for entrepreneurship and the top destination for establishing new businesses. He attributed this success to the wise leadership’s directives that prioritize entrepreneurship and the support of small and medium-sized enterprises as essential to building a competitive knowledge-based economy founded on innovation and creativity, coupled with the UAE’s high adaptability to various regional and international changes.
He added that these results reflect the comprehensive and robust competitive policies and regulations implemented by the UAE to create a nurturing environment for entrepreneurship. Initiatives like the national campaign “UAE: Capital of Entrepreneurs in the World,” recently launched, demonstrate the country’s commitment to being the foremost destination for talent, innovators, and entrepreneurs globally, fostering a world-class entrepreneurial setting.
These findings also align with the objectives of the “We Are the UAE 2031” vision, which aims to solidify the UAE’s position as a global hub for the new economy by supporting promising sectors such as technology, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, space, and fintech, thereby enhancing national competitiveness and establishing it as a prime location for entrepreneurship.
Specifically, the UAE scored 7.0 points on the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI) for 2025, which assesses the supportive climate for entrepreneurship in each country based on expert opinions in the field, indicating the strength of its supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem and the high levels of confidence among entrepreneurs and investors in the efficacy of this ecosystem in establishing the UAE as a global center for entrepreneurial ventures.
The report noted that the UAE is among six countries where entrepreneurs consider artificial intelligence to be of paramount importance in the next three years, highlighting its readiness to transition towards an advanced digital economy based on knowledge and innovation.
In this context, the UAE, along with three other nations—Taiwan, Norway, and Sweden—received an “excellent” rating in sustainability priorities and awareness of artificial intelligence, showcasing the integration of innovation and sustainability in its business environment.
Moreover, the UAE demonstrated exceptional performance in the “international access” index, ranking among the top five countries in the report for its startups’ ability to reach overseas markets. This success is directly driven by its advanced logistical infrastructure, which connects local entrepreneurs with global consumers.
According to the report, the UAE has succeeded in creating a sustainable and growing entrepreneurial environment, exhibiting a notable level of entrepreneurial activity, with more than one in five adults (over 20%) initiating new businesses—reflecting strong incentives and enablers for startups. The early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate also reached impressive levels of 19.2%, suggesting that the influx of entrepreneurial ventures is a result of a supportive environment that makes business establishment an appealing career option due to ease of procedures and available government and financial support.
Additionally, the report highlighted the attractiveness of the UAE environment for talents, noting a 19.6% entrepreneurial activity rate among citizens and 22.4% among residents. This indicates the UAE’s ability to attract skilled individuals and enhance the participation of various community segments in entrepreneurship. The report also highlighted the UAE’s provision of a comprehensive entrepreneurial environment that facilitates female entrepreneurship, enabling women entrepreneurs to access necessary resources and capabilities.
In this regard, the report emphasized that more than half of entrepreneurs view family traditions as a significant motivator for establishing and growing their businesses, reflecting the deep-rooted entrepreneurial culture within the UAE community. The country has made notable progress in the indicator for entrepreneurship education in schools, ranking among the top five globally, with a clear focus on developing creative thinking, problem-solving, risk assessment, and opportunity recognition skills among students, which contributes to preparing a capable entrepreneurial generation for future leadership.
The report also indicated that entrepreneurship in the UAE is supported by an advanced and flexible financial environment, providing entrepreneurs with numerous opportunities to secure the necessary capital for launching and expanding their projects. The strength of this environment is evident in the variety of available funding sources, including government initiatives, investment funds, and venture capital. Such support boosts confidence among entrepreneurs, enabling them to transform ideas into viable and scalable projects, thus enhancing the dynamism of the business environment in line with the country’s direction towards an innovation and knowledge-based economy.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report stands out as a key global reference for measuring and analyzing entrepreneurial activity, relying on a comprehensive database that includes over two million interviews collected since its inception. The current edition draws on data from 53 economies representing about 43% of the world’s population and 57% of global GDP. It encompasses over 160,000 participants in the adult population survey, alongside more than 2,000 national experts and 370 technical experts and researchers, endowing it with an accurate scientific methodology and comprehensive comparison.