For over a decade, the United Arab Emirates has worked to diversify its economy and redefine its global brand. By many measures, it is succeeding. As the UAE grows less reliant on oil, there has also been a cultural opening in the capital, with Abu Dhabi now home to two major international institutions, New York University Abu Dhabi and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Social policies have also changed: In 2022, the government announced sweeping legal reforms, including the decriminalization of consensual relationships outside marriage and more robust protection for victims of sexual assault. Alongside this economic diversification and social liberalization, the UAE government has also opened a path for the nongovernmental “third sector,” by fostering social entrepreneurship.

Unsurprisingly in a state-dominant system, this opening is nascent. In 2019, the government worked with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor to produce the first report on social entrepreneurship in the UAE. Defining a social enterprise as “a business that supports society or solves environmental issues,” the report determined that just 2.9% of individuals in the country had started social enterprises or were in the process of doing so.

That same year, the Abu Dhabi government established the Authority of Social Contribution, or Ma’an (“together”), to accelerate the growth of nonprofits and social enterprises. Since its founding, the authority’s social accelerator has supported social entrepreneurs working to solve problems around inclusivity, mental well-being, family cohesion, and sustainability. Many enterprises incubated by Ma’an are creating solutions for challenges faced specifically in the Arab region and by Arabic speakers. For instance, Nafas (“soul”) provides a wide library of Arabic meditation content, and Al-Naqsh built an e-reader for Arabic children’s books.

Ma’an’s most recent government-supported cohort focused on the environment and sustainability, an issue the UAE has prioritized in recent years through initiatives such as the UAE 2050 plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and its hosting of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28. A notable alum from this cohort is Bazaara, a peer-to-peer social marketplace app for buying and selling used clothing, accessories, and home goods in the UAE. Led by CEO Alyssa Mariano, Bazaara is addressing the environmental impact of “fast fashion” by equipping UAE residents with the tools to easily buy quality secondhand items from other residents. With more than 55,000 live listings in the UAE, Bazaara now has plans to launch in Saudi Arabia and Egypt by 2025.

“For every fashion purchase bought secondhand instead of new, it offsets about 5.9 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. But, as an entrepreneur, it can still be quite tough because a lot of investors only look at how quickly they can make a return,” while “many climate tech or social startups have more long-term benefits,” said Mariano. Still some venture capital firms, such as Bazaara’s lead investor, Flat6Labs, may be following the UAE government’s lead in prioritizing climate technology and social enterprise more generally.

“The UAE has done a great job at supporting entrepreneurs, especially social entrepreneurs,” Mariano noted. However, “Despite the budding ecosystem, strong networks between social entrepreneurs, outside of a few Whatsapp groups, don’t exist. I think it’s an aspect that can be expanded on a lot more.”

Another notable Ma’an alum is the Butterfly, a nonprofit advocacy agency for “people of determination,” the term used in the UAE for people under 60 years old who are disabled. Founded and led by Marilena di Coste, the Butterfly is a one-stop shop for people of determination, families, and caregivers seeking advice, representation, and support on overcoming the challenges they face. In 2022, the Butterfly launched the Inclusive Employment Ecosystem, the first employment network in the UAE of companies, which aims to drive inclusion, equality, and accessibility in workplaces and increase employment opportunities for those who are disabled. The initiative includes companies such as Siemens Energy, Mubadala Health, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Serco.

“The UAE has been increasingly supportive of social entrepreneurship, with various government initiatives, grants, and incubators aimed at fostering social impact ventures,” said di Coste. But while support is growing, Marilena cites navigating the UAE’s regulatory environment as a continual challenge, “especially because it’s something relatively new in the UAE.”

While Ma’an is perhaps the most overarching government initiative supporting social enterprise, two other UAE government-affiliated organizations also launched major projects in 2019. Seventeen female entrepreneurs took part for the first time in the Badiri Education and Development Academy, an intensive 10-month program established by NAMA Women Advancement, a governmental organization in Sharjah that works “to bridge global gender gaps and provide an enabling environment for women.” Participants developed business leadership skills to help them transform their ideas into scalable startups. In addition to coursework, the entrepreneurs traveled to India, where they met successful social entrepreneurs and learned from the experts of India’s School for Social Enterprises. By the end of the program, they had each begun work on founding their own social enterprise, with projects ranging from a sustainability-focused fashion design label to a “food ATM” – a vending machine that delivers hot meals.

While most initiatives focus on supporting social enterprise in the UAE, the Emirates Award competition established by the Emirates Foundation encourages youth aged 18-25 from across the Middle East to solve societal challenges through social enterprise. Before the competition was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, 14 teams were selected from more than 500 applications around the region with ideas ranging from paper manufactured from palm trees to a method for absorbing heavy metals using tea waste and a smart solar cell. The top three finalists received up to $27,000 and entrance into a mentorship program with Gulf social enterprise experts.

While still nascent, the UAE has laid the foundation for its social entrepreneurship ecosystem to grow and blossom. Judging from major initiatives already supported by Ma’an and other agencies, sustainability and inclusivity will likely remain funders’ top priorities, with mental health and women’s issues right behind them. It remains to be seen whether the government will open up more space for nongovernment actors to play a bigger role in fostering the ecosystem and the causes and issues the enterprises support. While the scope of social causes is currently somewhat limited, the past decade’s trend of diversification and liberalization suggests that there could be a slow expansion to other actors and causes.