RIYADH: The Human Resources Development Fund (HADAF) said 140,000 people have registered in an e-services program for entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The 9/10ths Program, which was launched in August 2016, offers online platforms to change the Kingdom’s work culture by promoting and supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs as well as helping to create new jobs in innovative ways.
Services provided by the online platforms are an interactive guide for entrepreneurs at all stages of their startup projects, financing solutions that serve viable enterprises, services and applications for managing, developing, and operating SMEs, and data and information that help entrepreneurs and enterprises in making important business decisions.
The program is one of HADAF’s initiatives to achieve goals in the Vision 2030 reform plan, and the National Transformation Program 2020. Vision 2030 says that SMEs contribute only 20 percent of the Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP), whereas in advanced economies this contribution can reach up to 70 percent.
