Small businesses, based out of homes, to be issued licenses by MEC

Be it soaps, cakes or handicrafts, there is a huge, thriving home business market in Qatar at the moment. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people make use of their spare time to channel their inner creativity and also make an extra buck in the process.

And now, the Ministry of economy and Commerce (MEC) has woken up to the possibilities and decided to issue licenses to practicing commercial activities at home. It will be part of their initiatives to encourage small home businesses and promote self-employment, reported Gulf Times.

The new initiative is part of the ministry’s Decision No 242 for 2016 to promote low cost commercial activities, which are based on personal skills, without the use of equipment that cause inconvenience to others or hazardous materials.

The activities that fall under this initiative include sewing and embroidery; services related to celebrations such as photography of weddings and parties, making gifts and artefacts and packaging them, manual design of gifts and cards, flower arrangement (natural or artificial); electronic services which include computer generated designs, with the exception of architectural and engineering designs which is part of the work of engineering offices; service businesses such as cooking, printing, photo copying and binding of textbooks; making of beauty products such as perfumes, incense, and other cosmetics;  processing of food items like coffee beans, spices, herbs; and making of meals.

In order to be issued a licence to practise commercial activities at home, the applicant must be above 18. He or she should live at the house and the activity should not prove to be a nuisance for neighbours.

The applicant should get necessary approvals and submit a building accomplishment certificate and Civil Defence clearance certificate in case of cooking activities.

The MEC has set QR1,020 as the license’s annual fees, which can subsequently be renewed each year.

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