The CEO of Emirates Development Bank (EDB) has admitted its AED30 billion ($8.2 billion) strategy is “ambitious” but Faisal Al Bastaki told Arabian Business he is confident they will deliver and play a pivotal role in the UAE’s post-pandemic recovery.

The strategy, which was launched to support the recently announced Operation 300bn, is aimed at supporting businesses and start-ups across the country.

Operation 300bn was launched earlier this year as a 10-year comprehensive strategy to more than double the industrial sector's contribution to the country's GDP, positioning the UAE as a global industrial hub by 2031.

The bank has allocated a portfolio of AED30 billion to support priority industrial sectors over a five-year period, which will contribute to financing more than 13,500 SMEs, creating 25,000 jobs.

Al Bastaki said: “It’s very ambitious but we will do it. We have full trust in the leadership. The UAE is one of the fastest countries in the vaccinations and the recovery post-Covid, plus there’s lots of good things we believe will boost the outcome or the result.

“For us, it’s all about hard work, the mindset and the support we have from the leadership. Things will happen.”

Al Bastaki revealed that the bank’s portfolio grew to AED4.2 billion ($1.14 billion) by the end of December and they supported almost 500 companies, while the contribution to GDP was in the region of AED950 million ($258.7 million).

He said he was looking to increase the portfolio to AED30bn and for GDP contribution to rise AED10 billion ($2.7 billion) by 2025.

The bank's new strategy, based around five pillars, is designed to drive the UAE’s industrial growth, encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, support the adoption of advanced technologies and continue to provide home finance for Emiratis.

A AED1 billion ($272.3 million) fund has also been set up to invest in SMEs through an investment arm of EDB.

Within this there will be five priority sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, infrastructure, food security and technology.

“Post-Covid at EDB we asked ourselves what we could do, to bring things to speed. We focused on sectors where the result would be quick. That’s why we selected the priority sectors, manufacturing, healthcare, infrastructure, food security and technology. During Covid we noticed the importance of these sectors,” said Al Bastaki.

Priorities include working in partnership with five commercial UAE banks to extend financial services to SMEs and increasing its direct financing by 73 percent in 2021 to support the aforementioned sectors, while also focusing on underserved sectors with extensive financial solutions.

Al Bastaki explained: “Prior to Covid, SME financing in the country there was a huge gap for their needs. Covid made this worse and made the situation very bad. Now we are putting our full support with commercial banks so they can start lending again.”

And he underlined how important the sector was. He said: “The SME sector is a key driver for the creation of jobs in the country. As per the data that we have, we can say that 86 percent of the jobs created in the country is created by SMEs, so you see the importance of that.

“In addition to that, for non-oil GDP, they contribute up to 60 percent. This sector is the most important sector for us. That’s why one pillar of our strategy is dedicated to that where we will, direct and indirect, we will give them financial support and non-financial support through advisory platforms, training and workshops.

“We are very committed to support the start-ups and SMEs.”