RIYADH: In a bid to help Saudi enterprises take maximum advantage of the government’s various financing initiatives, the Kingdom’s Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority is organizing Finance Week starting Sunday to promote the growth of their facilities in the market.
The authority, also known as Monsha’at, is holding the event in collaboration with several Saudi banks, government agencies and sectors involved with financing solutions and investment funds.
Finance Week is being held to raise the level of knowledge of SMEs in the country, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The event will also help further develop the capabilities of SMEs in the Kingdom by making them aware of the government’s various financing solutions and the basic requirements to obtain those.
Moreover, Finance Week will also shed light on how entrepreneurs can enhance the sustainability of their projects while obtaining the appropriate support and financing to do so.
The event will see the participation of the experts involved in financing the SME sector, including the acting CEO of the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank, Abdulrahman bin Mansour.
Mansour is also expected to present a session introducing the bank’s products to the sector. The plenary will answer all the beneficiaries’ queries and host a group of Saudi banks to highlight their financing products for entrepreneurs and owners of SMEs.
As part of the activities of Finance Week, the SME Bank is conducting the “Two Days Financing” initiative in partnership with a number of agencies including Bank Albilad, Arab National Bank, and Alawwal Bank.
In addition, a set of agreements and memoranda of understanding are also expected to be signed between the financing agencies and specialized companies.
Those agreements will aim to create financing and awareness programs for SMEs while contributing to addressing the challenges facing these establishments in support of their expansion and growth in the local market.
Under the Vision 2030 goals, the Saudi SME sector aims to make a 35 percent contribution to the Kingdom’s national gross domestic product by 2030.
Moreover, SMEs are set to play a significant role in achieving Saudi Arabia’s objectives of lowering the unemployment rate from 11.6 percent to 7 percent and increasing women’s participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent.
