The General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat) signed a cooperation agreement today with Taibah Valley Company to develop and support the entrepreneurial environment in the Al-Madinah province. This agreement coincides with the recent launch of the E-commerce Tour by Monshaat at the SMEs Support Center in Al-Madinah. The agreement, signed by Dr. Sultan bin Zaid Al-Omari, the Acting President of Taibah University, Sami Al-Husseini, and the Governor of Monshaat, aims to support entrepreneurs, both men and women, enabling them to take advantage of the programs and services offered by Monshaat. It also aims to prepare them to enter the job market and take advantage of the potential and promising opportunities in the field of entrepreneurship through a package of developmental programs and awareness workshops. The first day of the E-commerce Tour in Al-Madinah featured a dialogue session titled "Investment and Development of Financial Systems for E-commerce Development." Dr. Noha Al-Zahrani, head of the Promising Sectors Development Department at the Chamber of Commerce in Al-Madinah, mentioned that the number of commercial registrations in the e-commerce industry has reached 1,756 in Al-Madinah province, affirming that e-commerce is one of the promising sectors in the region. Ryan Al-Baridi, the leader of the Emerging Technologies Incentive Team at the Communications and Information Technology Commission, explained that most major technology companies such as Alibaba, Microsoft, and Google are present in the Kingdom, in addition to more than 30 registered and accredited companies through the Communications and Information Technology Commission as local service providers. Mohammed Al-Khwaiter, the Business Development Manager at Tap Payments, emphasized that activating "Mada" as the world’s first local payment method on "Apple Pay" in 2019 marked a significant milestone in the e-commerce industry. It has facilitated the purchasing process between merchants and customers.
The tour also included a series of workshops on the first day, title "Potentials in Monshaat for E-commerce." These workshops aimed to introduce participants to the initiatives and programs provided by Monshaat in the e-commerce industry, specifically designed to support entrepreneurs and SME owners. Another workshop, titled "Digital Transformation and Integrated Sales Channels," aimed to provide participants with the essential knowledge of designing marketing channel strategies and adjusting them according to market variables. Additionally, there was a workshop focused on "E-commerce Opportunities in Promising Sectors" to highlight the most promising areas in e-commerce.  Lastly, there was a workshop titled "Techniques for Developing E-commerce Platforms" to introduce participants to the prominent platforms that support their business activities.