QDB partners with Qatar Chamber to launch the very first edition of the Made At Home exhibition series

In its drive to empower the local home-based industry and support small-scale entrepreneurs so that they may contribute positively to the national economy, Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and their partners today kicked off their very first edition of the "Made at Home” exhibition at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC).

The expo showcased over 144 local home businesses that enthusiastically put on display a wide range of domestically-produced items, including homespun textiles, home-baked food items, handcrafted jewelry and other handicrafts. The “Made at Home” exhibition offers a special opportunity to commercially productive licensed home-businesses to display and sell their products, create new marketing windows for their commodities, and exchange experiences with other similar businesses involved in a wide range of specialized fields.

Being hosted until 5 October 2017, the exhibition is the collaborative result of QDB’s organizing partnership with Qatar Chamber, strategic partnership with Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor & Social Affairs, and support of telecommunications sponsor Ooredoo. Most notably, the five-day expo is organized under the patronage of Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Commenting during the opening ceremony,Chief Executive Officer (CEO), QDB, Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa said: "In addition to serving a critical economic function, home-based businesses are also important because they also play an equally important role in social development.In recent times, due to the dynamic growth of Qatar on a large scale, microbusinesses have faced a considerable challenge competing with the many formally organized local companies and multinational corporations that have entered the market.However, by arranging this promotional exhibition that highlights their products and services, we wish to usher in a new era of prosperity for local home-based businesses in Qatar.

“Furthermore, as a part of the objectives outlined in our Home-based Business National Program to promote this vital sector – we are also launching our largest online platform to digitally showcase products offered by local home-based businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) in Qatar.”

Director General, Qatar Chamber, Saleh bin Hamad Al-Sharqi said: “The cooperation between Qatar Chamber and Qatar Development Bank is a testament of our joint commitment to pool together our collective brainpower and harness our collective resources for the benefit of the State of Qatar.Around the world, home-based businesses are active contributors to their respective economies—at Qatar Chamber, we firmly believe that Qatari home-based businesses can positively contribute to the diversity of our market and self-sustainability of our economy as well.”

Head of Department for Family Affairs, Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, Najat Al-Abdullah said, “The State of Qatar values the support and talent of its commercially active homes, families and microbusinesses. Through our strategic partnership in the ‘Made at Home’ exhibition, we lend our support to hard-working, productive families across Qatar that wish to create a window of opportunity for themselves and bring new homemade products into the market.”

CEO,Ooredoo Qatar, Waleed Mohamed Al-Sayed said: "At Ooredoo, we embrace our responsibility of supporting our local industries because we believe that every Qatari business – however big or small – plays a critical role in contributing towards the self-sustainability of our national economy. We are pleased to partake in the ongoing ‘Made at Home’ exhibition and promote a culture that celebrates local entrepreneurial pursuits undertaken by productive families.”

The ongoing exhibition is part of QDB’s broader SME outreach program – the Home-based Business National Program – that was launched by the development bank in 2015 to stimulate the private sector through facilitating the entry of a greater variety of SMEs into the local economy.