Type of Company:

• A commercial, for-profit SME, engaged in value-added economic activity in Qatar
• Based in Qatar with a minimum of 51% of Qatari shareholding
• Qualifying as an SME per the official SME definition in Qatar (Micro companies can participate excluding home-based businesses)

Existence in Qatar:

• In operations in Qatar for a minimum period of 3 years at the time of application
• Holding a valid Commercial Registration number in Qatar

Willingness to Share Information:

• Audited Statements: All SMEs should mandatorily have at least three years of audited financial statements (2019, 2020, 2021). In case 2021 financials have not been audited yet, an internal unaudited report for fiscal year 2021 is accepted until the audited statements are available.
• Once shortlisted for evaluation, the SME will be required to participate in the interviews, and site visits. They will also be required to furnish additional documents to support and validate the discussions during and after the site visits.

Other Eligibility Criteria

• The SME can either be a parent or subsidiary. Both the parent company and the subsidiary cannot participate in the SME Excellence List, in the same cycle of evaluation. Thus, the owner will need to decide which is the best application to be included in the current ranking cycle.
• If the applicant participates, the company must follow the thresholds laid out in the National Definition of SMEs in Qatar (please read the SME definition document carefully).
• Government entities and not-for-profit entities are not eligible for participation.
• SMEs who are a branch of a foreign company or a franchise of an international brand are not eligible to participate.
• SMEs which have a direct / indirect investment from a QDB employee are not eligible for participation.

Terms and Conditions

• By entering the ranking process, the SME agrees to be contacted by the independent evaluator (Dun & Bradstreet),
• The Technical Panel reserves the right to relax / modify the qualification criteria.
• This is a ranking program; and the Technical Committees decision will be deemed as final.

• The List will provide greater credibility and visibility to the SME across government entities as well as the private sector.
• Featuring in the SME Excellence List will help the SME position itself as one of the top-performers in the sector.
• Featuring in the SME Excellence List will enable SMEs to be looked upon as professional enterprises and thus attract a skilled pool of employees.
• All of the above will consequently improve the competitiveness of the SMEs in Qatar.
• Additionally, the publication featuring the top performing SMEs shall be showcased locally and internationally giving the SMEs greater visibility.
• Moreover, the SMEs undergoing the site-visits will obtain feedback from the evaluators after the SME Excellence List 2022 event. The feedback will detail apparent areas of strengths and weaknesses, relative rankings and overall key improvement areas. This assessment will help the SME build on its strengths and improve on its weaknesses.
• SMEs featured in the SME Excellence List will benefit immensely from the recognition and visibility provided by QDB, earning greater respect among the business and finance community.

• Application: Eligible SMEs complete an application form and upload all the relevant documents online
• Initial Filtering: SMEs are shortlisted by the technical committee based on eligibility criteria and financial criteria.
• Site Visit Meetings: Shortlisted SMEs are evaluated during the site-visit by approved independent evaluator (Dun & Bradstreet). The evaluators will use the following parameters to assess the SME performance:
  • Financial parameters include: growth in turnover, growth in profits, etc.
  • Non-financial parameters include: entrepreneurship, innovation & technology adoption, employee development & retention, international orientation, localization, corporate excellence, quality orientation and environmental care & protection.
• Final Evaluation: An independent technical panel will validate the scores and ranking
• SME Excellence List 2022 Event: Final list of top performing SMEs will be announced and a publication featuring them will be released.