The definition of SME (Small & Medium Enterprises) varies depending on who is defining. Usually, any business entity with sales turnover of less than US$ 250 Million (~AED 1 Billion) can be classified as an SME. Of course a services/manufacturing company with a turnover of US$250Million would be far more valuable compared to a trading entity. DubaiSME.com aims to rate SME’s so that lenders/suppliers could easily shortlist the entity that that they are dealing with and SME’s can work to enhance their ratings by working towards some of the key benchmarks.

Rating an SME is very different from rating large corporates as some of the characteristics of SMEs include the following:

* Limited availability of financial information as auditing of books is not a necessity under most jurisdictions in the UAE
* Presence of multiple audit firms with varying degree of professionalism/skillset/quality
* Strong linkage between the entity and the owner/owner’s family
* “Skip Risk” as a majority of SME’s are founded/run by expats
* Low capitalization, limited recognizable assets, cash intensive transactions, lower use of technology and adaptability

DubaiSME.com is a 100% independent, private and unbiased agency with no affiliation to any Government or Bank. Our ratings is not a substitute for a lender to do their due-diligence but serves as a starting point to shortlist an SME to start exploring to do business with. Our rating not only looks at basic financials of the entity but also looks at owners’ profile, vintage, web presence, social media presence which is essential to gauge a SME’s relationship with its eco-system. The traditional credit assessment can no longer work in the SME space as internet can provide valuable information about SME and Owners network. 

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