The United Arab Emirates has ranked in the top 10 countries globally for online searches of the term “how to start a business in…”, according to a recent report from SEMrush, the leading online digital marketing suite. Far out-ranking all other countries in the wider Middle East region, the UAE claimed a lofty 9^th position in the globally-culled data, which compiled online searches by people around the world seeking to set up small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Saudi Arabia and Kuwait ranked 30^th and 34^th, respectively,

“Our online marketing tools, which analysed the global search pattern for the last 12 months on search terms ‘how to start a company in’ and ‘opening business in’, placed three GCC countries in the top 40 most searched countries from a list of 195 countries worldwide,” commented Adam Zeidan, MENA region Corporate Communications Manager for SEMrush.

According to official reports, the UAE has approximately 350,000 SMEs, equating to more than 94 per cent of the total number of companies established in the country. These SMEs contribute more than 60 per cent of GDP.

With the UAE aiming to expand this figure to 70 per cent by 2021, some 9,412 new company licences were issued in Abu Dhabi in 2017, compared to 9,089 new licences in the previous year – an increase of 3.5 per cent. Dubai issued 19,877 new company licenses last year.

“In line with the region’s drive towards female empowerment among both nationals and residents, 12 per cent of the new company licences issued in the UAE last year were to female entrepreneurs. SEMrush has a proven record in supporting companies of all sizes by providing the latest digital SEO and marketing online tools to help established and new business entrepreneurs reach their target customers more accurately, faster and with less wastage of marketing budgets,” added Zeidan.

According to SEMrush’s research on the term  “How to start a business in…”, the top 10 most globally searched countries online are:

1. India
2. Singapore
3. The Philippines
4. Australia
5. Canada
6. New Zealand
7. Pakistan
8. South Africa
9. United Arab Emirates
10. Malaysia