Empowering small family businesses: Job creation in the uae in the era of climate change

This study focuses primarily on small family businesses in the UAE in the national context by reporting state-level data affected by climate change. By using a quantitative research approach and figures from official national sources, the examination concentrates on the output, intensity, and continuity of these businesses in this current state of climate change and environmental crises, such as COVID-19 pandemic. The main result shows the paramount role of small family enterprises in the UAE’s economy, mostly responsible for the two main factors of development, job creation, and diversification of the economy. The study relied on open data provided by government entities sources such as the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) and the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). It also highlights the importance of women in family businesses by presenting engagement rates and the role women play in business opportunities and job creation. It also presents various aspects of education levels of business owners in managing family businesses, in particular, those who had secondary and university education. In addition, the data exhibits an emerging trend of gender distribution whereby females are more dominant in family business ownership than males; this underscores the UAE’s advances in embracing gender parity in business. Moreover, this work enhances the body of knowledge about the importance of SMEs in UAE’s socio-economic context and reveals policy implications for support programs and climate change adaptation to foster the sustainability and growth of these businesses, as well as knowledge transfer between generations. The findings of this study are in line with the UAE vision to build a more resilient, diversified and sustainable economy.