Discoverability is The Next Big Challenge for Small Businesses in UAE

This article draws on The TikTok Effect: Enabling the UAE’s Dynamic Digital Economy, a study commissioned by TikTok and conducted by Redseer Strategy Consultants.  

For a small business, the hardest part used to be getting found. Discovery platforms are closing that gap, and the effects reach far beyond the business itself. – Sandeep Ganediwalla, Partner, Redseer

FIX Dessert Chocolatier started in 2022, when co-founder Sarah Hamouda launched the “Can’t Get Knafeh of It” bar as a very niche, delivery-only product on food delivery apps. The bar combined Arab flavours (tahini, pistachio, filo pastry) with Western chocolate influences, but caught very few eyeballs. For months, the brand ran on word of mouth, completing about 6-7 orders a day through a single employee. 

One day, a content creator posted a video about the bar on TikTok, drawing 140 Mn+ views. That became the turning point in the brand’s journey: the product got a new identity as Dubai chocolate, orders grew 70X, and to cater to that, a single employee became a staff of 50 managing 500 orders a day.  

The product had not changed. Its discoverability had. That distinction matters well beyond one chocolate brand: digitisation gets a business online, but discoverability is what helps it get found, tested and scaled. That shift is at the center of Redseer’s study of TikTok’s role in the UAE economy, and it bears directly on the country’s target for small business growth.  

 
Redseer’s analysis follows that shift through the UAE’s small business economy: why visibility now matters for the country’s 2030 target, how TikTok helps small firms with reach, resources and product validation, how lower barriers are encouraging new businesses to start, and how the value they create travels well beyond the businesses themselves. 

1. For the Target to Be Met, Small Firms Need Visibility 

The UAE had about 557K Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) at the end of 2022, producing 63.5% of non-oil GDP, and the government is targeting 1 Mn by 2030 (Ministry of Economy). As shoppers increasingly head online to purchase their needs, these businesses will have to move their presence there to grow. 

Small businesses are currently lagging in that transition, with only 5-10% of their sales happening online vs 15-20% for large companies. According to a Visa study (2024), one of the major contributors could be that 74% of UAE SMBs still rely on manual processes and basic communication tools. 

Discussions around the digitisation of small businesses often stay limited to tools such as payments, websites and software. But being online does not guarantee being found. As consumer behaviour shifts, the step after the tools, getting discovered, deserves equal attention. 

2. How TikTok Helps Small Firms Reach Customers 

Redseer believes that larger organisations usually don’t have the same problems as smaller firms in building a reliable route to customers, and this is where discoverability via TikTok could help. 

a. Reach and Awareness  

According to Redseer’s survey, companies suggested 46% saw their brand awareness improve through TikTok, and TikTok’s own data backs that claim, with 70k+ UAE SMBs advertising on it, and that advertiser count grew 104% in 2023-25. 

 
Washmen, a laundry app, shared how TikTok became its biggest paid acquisition channel, helping unlock 15% of all new users, at 10% lower cost per first order than its other channels. 

Discovery scales what already exists, too. Emirati entrepreneur Mohammed Al Falasi used TikTok to showcase Saddle Cafe’s signature products and setting as the brand grew from a single coffee truck in 2017 to more than 25 locations across the GCC, London and Cannes. 

Amna, who runs the auto repair workshop Amna Motors, uses TikTok LIVE to demonstrate repairs and answer questions in real time, which helps build the kind of trust that turns viewers into customers, especially in a category where buyers often feel unsure of the quality of the service. 

b. Access to Resources 

As opposed to what the general belief might limit it to, TikTok also helps unlock talent and capital, much beyond customers, to keep the business running. 47% of surveyed SMBs got an investment lead through TikTok and 33% hired people they first met there. 

c. Product Validation and Iteration  

Another thing that small businesses have conventionally had limited access to is feedback loops and how their product fits into the market. It’s very important to map and validate the demand and produce accordingly. 42% of surveyed SMBs actually launched new products or services based on what their TikTok audience told them. 

Redseer believes that discovery platforms like TikTok can collapse the long time it usually takes for small firms to have access to talent, investors, feedback – all much necessary to get while building and scaling – and can be a strong armor in the GTM toolkit. 

3. When Reaching Customers Costs Less, More People Start Businesses 

When reaching customers costs less, and there’s lower friction, more people take the leap and start a business of their own, and that starts a ripple. According to Redseer’s survey, about 8% of digitally active SMBs started their business because of TikTok. 

4. The Value Travels Beyond the Business 

Redseer estimates that in 2024, SMB use of TikTok supported AED 1,098 Mn in Gross Value Added (GVA) and 7,000 jobs across the UAE economy. That impact splits into AED 327 Mn direct (generated within the businesses themselves), AED 337 Mn indirect (through their suppliers), and AED 435 Mn induced (through the households where workers along the chain spend their wages) – a total economic footprint more than 3X the direct effect. 

Redseer Advisory 

For Founders: Discovery platforms like TikTok have lowered the cash cost of reaching early customers. Organic posting is already the most common daily use of TikTok among surveyed SMBs, but building sustained reach still takes time, creativity and consistency. Plan distribution alongside the product, not after it. 

For Investors: Discovery traction tends to be visible early and in public on TikTok and similar platforms, giving investors an early window into emerging businesses and customer demand. With 47% of surveyed SMBs reporting an investment lead through TikTok, these platforms are already one of the places where investors and small firms first meet. They are a signal worth watching, not a substitute for diligence. 

For Policymakers: The national agenda is not only about registering more businesses but about seeing more of them grow and scale. SME digitisation programmes have largely focused on payments, websites and software. Discoverability should sit alongside them, through training, creator partnerships and ad support. The TikTok-Visa partnership (July-September 2025), which paired masterclasses and expert Q&A sessions with US$150 in ad credits for first-time advertisers spending US$250 or more with a Visa Commercial card, is one example. Tracking the share of SMB sales made online, not just registrations, would show whether this is working.