Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 20, 2020:   The SME Rise Collective began its story a week ago, but in this short time amazing things are already starting to happen and already The Collective has covered 2 agency salaries for 3 months and will be supporting 2 SMEs with their marketing for 3 months. 

Created in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic and its effect on small businesses, The SME Rise Collective was developed to support in stimulating the economy, and ensuring that as many SMEs as possible, and their staff survive this time. 

It is in essence a call to action for every member of the UAE to come together and support the SME community by sponsoring Marketing and PR packages for those SMEs that need it most, because if people do not know that a company exists, it will struggle to survive. 

Sponsoring a marketing package is incredibly easy with The SME Rise Collective. Whether you are an individual or a corporation, the SME Rise Collective platform allows you to support for as little as 100 AED. 

Since launching seven days ago, The SME RISE COLLECTIVE has received more than 20 sponsorships against marketing packages, more than 150 applications from SMEs that need help and requests from 18 marketing agencies and licensed freelancers who wish to join and support the Collective. 

The amount already raised has allowed The SME Rise Collective to support two existing SMEs who will receive marketing support from the collective, effective immediately. Eco Souk Middle East a mum owned concept store bringing the best eco functional family brands and TKD Lingerie the lingerie, swimwear, nightwear and loungewear specialists with stores in Dubai and Abu Dhabi both applied for support via the ‘Apply’ section of the website and were chosen by a panel of independent judges. The packages they receive will be in-line with their current business objectives and in agreement with the strategic advice of The Collective.   

Natasha Hatherall founder of The SME Rise Collective and TishTash says of the initiative, “We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received for this initiative, especially from individuals and other SMEs keen to support each other. We are already in a position to start working with two SMEs that applied and that were chosen by our independent panel. However, we know that for this initiative to be a success and to maintain its growth, we need support from those enterprises that have CRM budgets or are able to reallocate some of their own marketing budgets. Now really is a time for us to come together and support the SMEs in any way we can. We truly believe that the The SME Rise Collective has the power to create change if we all come together, as a collective.” 

Chloe Ragg, Co-Founder and CEO of Fox and Hound Digital Communications added, “The personal donations we have received so far have really amazed us and the kindness of people during this time is outstanding. Our continued belief is that together we can make sure that our favorite coffee shops, restaurants, gyms, salons etc are not taken for granted and are given the support they need to fight for their survival.” 

Thank you to all generous sponsors to-date.   Whilst the majority have chosen to remain anonymous for their support, we give special thanks to two amazing SMEs who wanted to support the local community – Furless and KJ Serums.