Page 50 - SAMENA Trends - January 2021

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

20 has over 90 per cent of its population market. best in the world. It outperforms the
using a financial account, but Denmark • Best for days required to start a average scores across all of the other
outdoes them all with a score of 99.92 Business: Thanks to there being one high-income countries, boasting great
per cent. only procedure necessary for business infrastructure, timeliness, competence,
• Best for payment processing providers: start-ups, it’s no surprise that New international connections, ease of
A large number of countries scored full Zealand and Georgia are also the customs, and tracking and tracing.
points for in this category, including quickest places to establish a business. • Best for postal efficiency: With full
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Here, you could be up and running in marks for postal efficiency, Switzerland
Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, just one day. comes out on top yet again. Measured
Spain, the UK, and the US. • Best for cost of start-up business on reliability, reach, relevance, and
• Best for economic freedom: Singapore procedures: Based on the percentage resilience, Switzerland has dominated
enjoys great economic freedom and of GNI it costs to start up a business, the index since it began in 2017.
performs well in all of the categories Ireland, the UK, and Slovenia are best • Best for co-work spaces: As previously
covered here: property rights, judicial at just 0.1 per cent. Unsurprisingly, with mentioned the US boasts a far greater
effectiveness, government integrity, its lengthy procedures, Venezuela ranks number of co-work spaces than any
tax burden, government spending, worst in this category, costing 211.8 per other country. With over 2,400, the
fiscal health, business freedom, labor cent of GNI. opportunity to find a suitable office
freedom, monetary freedom, trade • Best for time zones: The most ‘popular’ space and to network with fellow
freedom, investment freedom, and time zone is UTC +1 and includes 44 entrepreneurs is vast.
financial freedom. countries worldwide (most of Europe • Best for digital skills: Many online
• Best for business start-up procedures: and Central Africa), providing great businesses rely on key skills, from
With just one procedure required to multinational connections. basic coding to general computer skills.
register your business in New Zealand • Best for logistics performance: According to World Bank data, Finland
and Georgia, these two countries offer According to the World Bank’s Logistic has the most digitally skilled workers,
a stress-free, speedy entry into the Performance Index, Germany is the scoring 5.83 out of 7.

UAE the 13th Best Country in the World to Launch an Online Business

The UAE has been ranked 13 out of 99 per cent of all retail sales (up from 14.1 Arabia and UAE rose by 30 per cent in
countries for ease of starting an online per cent in 2019). According to research just one year between 2018 and 2019.
business. The study was carried out by firm Kearney, the GCC e-commerce market Consumers spend between $600 and
Best Accounting Software, a service that will reach revised to $24bn, revised $2bn $1,300 online every year in the two GCC
reviews and rates financial software. The higher due to Covid-19. The average countries, Kearney estimates.
ranking considered, among other criteria, annual spend on e-commerce in Saudi
internet coverage and penetration; country
wealth and ease of processes (including
corporate taxes), and; access to delivery
services and skilled workers. The UAE had
an overall score of 68.41, just below the UK
and ahead of Belgium. The GCC country
ranked best for mobile internet speed (with
average speeds of 129.61 Mbps), best for
internet users with 99 per cent of their
population using the internet, and best for
low corporate tax rates at 0 per cent. Saudi
Arabia had a score of 53.67 while Kuwait
scored 51.39 out of 100. Denmark was
ranked as the best country to launch an
online business, followed by Switzerland
and the Netherlands. European countries
dominated the top 20. E-commerce
continues to grow year-on-year, with
eMarketer forecasting global sales worth
$6.542 trillion by 2023, accounting for 22

50 JANUARY 2021