Exclusive Interview With Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook: “Helping Small Businesses Comes First”

Interview With Sheryl Sandberg

The year 2020 was tough for the global economy, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were hit the hardest by COVID-19, says Sheryl Sandberg. “The coronavirus is not only a health crisis—it’s also an economic one, and small businesses feel it first,” the Facebook Chief Operating Officer told Forbes Middle East.

Sandberg, who was worth about $1.9 billion in October 2021 and ranked 15th on Forbes’ list of America’s Self-Made Women, focused on making Facebook a strong platform for small business advertising. This helped Facebook’s ad revenue grow 21% in 2020, reaching $84.2 billion. But even with this growth, many SMBs continued to struggle. “When we surveyed small businesses in the UAE at the end of 2020, nearly one in five had closed,” Sandberg shared. “More than half of those still open said their sales had dropped.”

Facebook’s 2021 State of Small Business Report showed that 18% of small businesses worldwide were closed in July 2021, down from 24% in February. However, among the businesses still running, more had reduced staff—rising from 30% in February to 36% in July.

To tackle this global challenge, Sandberg suggests three steps: bring small businesses online, train them to use digital tools, and connect them with customers. “Our priority is to support small businesses, so they can run both in-store and online,” she explained. In September, Sandberg met with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and held a roundtable with UAE entrepreneurs to discuss how Facebook and Instagram can further help small business owners in the Middle East. Over the past year, the company has already invested heavily in supporting SMBs across the region.

Supporting Small Businesses in MENA

Every month, over 200 million businesses around the world use Facebook apps to sell products online and connect with customers. To support them, Facebook introduced free tools and lessons on how to use them well. “In 2020, we trained 100 million small businesses worldwide to help them move online,” says Sandberg. Facebook also offered financial help through a $100 million credit program, which supported 30,000 small businesses in more than 30 countries.

In the UAE, Facebook gave $545,000 in grants in 2020 to help small businesses hit by COVID-19. A total of 110 Dubai-based businesses benefited. The company also launched the #LoveLocal campaign in MENA, a training hub designed for the region. It helped 11,000 small businesses learn digital skills during the pandemic. The hub provided access to 40 webinars and online tools developed with e-commerce partners like ecomz, Expand Cart, and Zid.

In July 2020, the “Boost With Facebook” program began in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon. It trained small business owners in digital skills through partnerships with local organizations such as Rise Up (Egypt), LaStartupFactory (Morocco), and Startup Without Borders (for MENA migrants). More than 8,000 small business owners joined the program. In 2021, it expanded to the UAE, Tunisia, and Palestine. In early 2021, Facebook also donated $600,000 in cash and ad credits to small businesses in Lebanon.

Sandberg explains: “When tools are free and online, they help people who have often been left out. These tools give a voice to those who didn’t have one before.”

The shift to digital has grown steadily. By July 2021, 88% of businesses were using digital tools, up from 81% in February. Over half of them said they would continue using these tools permanently. According to Facebook’s 2021 State of Small Business Report, going online kept many small businesses alive during the pandemic—and for some, it opened up entirely new opportunities.

Supporting Women Business Owners

Digital tools are helping many women entrepreneurs, but burnout is rising faster among women than men. One in three women is thinking about stepping back in their career or leaving work altogether. Sheryl Sandberg says this is because many women are managing both jobs and family duties during COVID. She adds that women- and minority-led businesses have been hit harder, with 20% of women-led businesses closing worldwide, compared to 16% of men-led businesses.

Facebook’s “She Means Business” program was created in 2016 to support women starting their business journey. It has trained one million women in 38 countries. When COVID-19 struck, the program added lessons on building stronger businesses through financial education. In 2020, Facebook worked with the UAE’s Khalifa Fund to train 1,300 women entrepreneurs in marketing and e-commerce.

“Since we launched the program in Dubai in 2017, more than 15,000 women in the MENA region have learned how to use Facebook and Instagram to grow their businesses,” says Sandberg. “Women are strong entrepreneurs, and we want to help them with training, advice, mentorship, and networking.”

Sandberg also co-founded LeanIn.org, a non-profit that promotes gender equality at work. Its LeanIn Circles bring women together to share experiences, exchange advice, and support one another. There are over 59,000 Circles in 180 countries, including in the Middle East. Two out of three women who join take on a new challenge within six months.

Looking ahead, Sandberg has a bigger mission: “I won’t stop until women run half the companies and half the countries, and men do half the housework.”

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