The Governor of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority “Monsha’at”, Engineer Saleh Al-Rasheed, launched the Franchise Initiative in Dammam yesterday, to build a thriving and sustainable franchise industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program.

Monsha’at explained that the initiative will contribute to making franchising a key driver of SME business and an economic tributary for the Kingdom, in addition to providing and creating many job opportunities.

Monsha’at noted that the initiative aims to increase the franchise sector’s contribution to the Kingdom’s GDP, pointing out that the launch of the franchise platform will make it easier for the program’s beneficiaries to benefit from and obtain the various franchises.

The initiative will also target young men and women and graduates, entrepreneurs and brand owners, franchise brokers, and investors who have the capabilities and the technical and academic qualifications to manage a franchise project and make it a success, in addition to the owners of existing enterprises who wish to apply the franchise system to expand and develop their activities.

The initiative includes the franchise platform, which contains franchise opportunities, awareness materials, awareness video content, a calendar of franchise events, and franchise agreement templates, as Monsha’at aims for the platform to be a complete reference for franchising.

Franchising is a contract under which one party (the franchisor) agrees to allow the other party (the franchisee) to use one or more intellectual and industrial property rights, or technical know-how, to produce goods or distribute its products or services under the franchisor’s brand, in accordance with its instructions and under its supervision, exclusively in a specific geographic area and for a specific period, with a commitment to provide technical assistance, in return for a financial consideration.