Sheikh Hamad (left) and Chevallier: Enhancing Qatari-French business ties.

By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter

Entrepreneur-focused organisations such as French Tech could help provide global exposure for innovative startups in Qatar, including its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, an official from the French embassy said in Doha.
Business France local director Pascal Roger said one of the roles of French Tech, a government initiative that puts French innovative companies in one ecosystem, is to attract startups and entrepreneurs from abroad, and help facilitate setting up a business in France.
Roger stressed that co-operation between the French embassy and agencies like the Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC) and Qatar Development Bank (QDB) could help fast-track the development of the Qatari private sector, particularly home-grown startups.
“We are already in discussions and we could take this further by exchanging information such as the number of incubators we have in France and how many startups we have in the country,” Roger told Gulf Times yesterday on the sidelines of the “Investment Council” organised by the Qatari French Business Club in co-operation with the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA)
Roger added: “Likewise, we can show them the whole ecosystem in France and how we tried to bridge the gap in terms of the lack of private funding for SMEs. The issue was addressed after the creation of a public investment bank, in partnership with other banks, to encourage them to invest in innovative SMEs and startups.”
This was reiterated by French ambassador Eric Chevallier, who noted that France is “absolutely excellent” in the field of information technology (IT), innovation, startups, and innovative SMEs.
“We know that Qatar wants to develop its own private sector and this is exactly the kind of discussion we are happy to have with the Qatari authorities and Qatari private investors.
“This Investment Council aims to see how the French embassy can jointly develop partnerships between our SMEs and our private sectors in order to contribute to the economies of Qatar and France,” Chevallier explained.
Asked what innovative sectors Qatar could bring to France, Roger said e-Commerce and Arabic applications or apps dedicated to the Arab world could help promote French products.
“Arabic content is something that is lagging in the whole region, though in the UAE they’re starting to address this issue. French companies have some products that need to be adapted to the Arab world,” Roger said.
“There is a lot of potential for e-Commerce, which also has a lot to do with the Arab world…these are sectors that France could work with local Qatari companies or even with other GCC countries,” he added.
QBA board member Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal al-Thani told Gulf Times that the Investment Council aims to encourage Qatari businessmen to look for opportunities outside of Qatar.