Under the patronage of the Prince of the Region.
Asharqia Chamber launches the Forum of Small and Medium Enterprises 2018.
Alomar: Bold capital is the main potential for translating creative projects.
AlKhalidi: Today's bet is on small and medium enterprises.
On Thursday, November 22, 2018, His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Province, launched the events of the Small and Medium Enterprises Forum (Bold Capital is the Portal for Empowerment).
The Forum was organized by Asharqia Chamber in its headquarter in Dammam, in the presence of a large number of government officials, men and women entrepreneurs and specialists in economic affairs in general and small and medium enterprises in particular.
HRH Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, during his tour of the exhibition accompanying the Forum, expressed his happiness with the economic mobility that is witnessed in the Eastern Province, and that it is part of the greater mobility witnessed in the Kingdom as a whole. He noted the importance of small and medium enterprises for the national economy.
The Engine of Economic Development
His Highness honored the Governor of the General Authority for Investment, Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Omar, and the Chairman of Asharqia Young Businessmen Council, Abdullah bin Faisal Al-Breikan.
In addition, His Highness presented a memorial shield to the Chairman of Asharqia Chamber, Abdul Hakim bin Hamad Al-Ammar Al-Khalidi, who said regarding the Small and Medium Enterprises sector, "It comes at the head of engines of economic development, with the increase and diversification of production and interdependence and integration between sectors and each other, as well as their role in the growth and diversification of employment opportunities for national labor forces."
AlKhalidi said that the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has paid great attention to the sector of Small and Medium Enterprises that it placed at the top of its objectives in the national transformation program and the vision of the Kingdom of 2030 and has taken pioneering steps in stimulating the culture of entrepreneurship.
The incentives were offered between procedural, regulatory and financing, within a strategic direction that aimed at making these facilities one of the pillars of economic development in the country.
Future Prospects
Although nearly two-and-a-half years have elapsed since the launch of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, the indicators and incentive measures are encouraging and confirm the future prospects for small and medium enterprises to achieve the vision of 2030 and increasing the contribution of this sector in the national economy to 35% from its current contribution of 22%, and this is undoubtedly a step on the right track.
Al-Khalidi pointed out that Asharqia Chamber seeks to play a distinguished role in supporting Small and Medium Enterprises by providing high quality services from consultancy and guidance that will support its continuity and improve its competitiveness.
It also launched a number of programs, seminars and workshops that aimed at developing and enhancing their performance to attract more capital to them in order to encourage them to compete and upgrade in the local market.
More Dialogues
Al-Khalidi said that achieving the aspirations for Small and Medium Enterprises still needs more dialogue and research and a wider view of successful experiences around the world.
He called for today's formulation of a comprehensive vision of the reality and future of small and medium enterprises and what can be provided by financial institutions and organizations and the bold capital of our young people who have innovative ideas for the launch of their projects.
He pointed out that a large part of this Forum was devoted to discussion and research on the importance of bold capital in supporting this sector and its role in finding new and innovative sources of finance and investment in promising small projects and the efforts of the Kingdom and its policies in this regard.
Developed Economies
His Excellency the Governor of the General Authority for Investment, Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Omar, said that the small and medium enterprises constitute 95% of the total number of commercial and investment establishments in the Kingdom, and is one of the most important engines of economic growth.
It promotes creativity, innovation, job creation and export growth, but its contribution to Saudi GDP remains below expectations compared to developed economies.
He noted that bold capital has become one of the main possibilities for translating ideas and creations into leading and influential international commercial and investment enterprises.
A number of companies based on bold capital have made significant changes in the global economy, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Concealing is Cancer for the Economy
Alomar pointed out that the vision of 2030 emphasizes the importance of supporting the private sector and adoption of success, which create an environment to promote creativity and innovation and improve efficiency. It is in order to raise its contribution to GDP from 40% to 65% and the contribution of small and medium enterprises from 20% to 35%, as well as raising the percentage of domestic content in the oil and gas sector from 40% to 75% and increasing the proportion of households spending on culture and entertainment from 2.9% to 6%.
This is a fertile ground to create more opportunities and investment areas and opens new horizons for the private sector in the Kingdom.
Alomar considered the Vision as a great opportunity for SMEs to open up new sectors that can accommodate many small and medium-sized enterprises such as mining, tourism, leisure and renewable energy.
He called on entrepreneurs to address these new sectors, especially as the Kingdom is currently providing incentives and several treatments for the upgrading of small and medium enterprises, both in terms of regulation or funding.
He stressed that the Kingdom is ready to provide full support to serious entrepreneurs, and that in order to eliminate concealing, which is the cancer of the economy in the issuance of a new program would eliminate it significantly.
Al-Omar said that the development of the investment environment is one of the most important factors driving the private sector, as the efforts are integrated between government agencies to improve the performance of the business sector in the Kingdom and achieve the tenth position in the Global Competitiveness Report by the end of 2030.
He pointed out the efforts of Tayseer Committee, which includes 39 governmental bodies, to enhance the investment environment in the Kingdom by following up the implementation of more than 450 recommendations to address the challenges faced by the private sector, where 40% of it were completed, and these efforts are integrated with other incentive programs.
