His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Investment and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority “Monsha’at”, Doctor Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, inaugurated the first center for supporting and enabling the SME sector in the Kingdom at the Monsha’at headquarters in Riyadh Region.
The center, the first of its kind, is the largest center for supporting enterprises in the Kingdom. It aims to support and enable the SME sector and ensure its continuity by providing several direct services to entrepreneurs and those interested in engaging in commercial activities, most importantly training services and the support and facilitation of procedures.
The center also houses the Meras platform, which aims to facilitate the procedures for starting and conducting business by providing all the government services entrepreneurs need at the start of their commercial journey.
His Excellency the Minister of Commerce was accompanied by the World Bank Regional Vice President for the Middle East and Africa, Ferid Belhaj; the Vice President of the International Finance Corporation for the Middle East and Africa, Sergio Pimenta; the Head of the International Finance Corporation in the Kingdom, Mouayed Makhlouf; and several officials. The delegation was received by the Governor of Monsha’at, Engineer Saleh Al-Rasheed, and several Monsha’at executives.
During his visit, His Excellency the Minister reviewed the center’s readiness and the way it serves its beneficiaries, in the presence of more than 140 enterprises. Monsha’at, in turn, gave a presentation on how services and products are delivered and on opening avenues of support and enablement for SMEs, in addition to providing several workshops and training and guidance centers. During his tour, Al-Qasabi met several SME owners and several guidance specialists and trainers, and listened to their suggestions on supporting this vital sector, which contributes to achieving the most important objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
For his part, the Governor of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, Engineer Saleh Al-Rasheed, stated: “The SMEs Support Center contributes to achieving Monsha’at’s objectives and strategies by providing all means of support to investors from among entrepreneurs and SME owners, through forming a system of Monsha’at’s various departments at the center to provide all services to SMEs, contributing to meeting their aspirations and needs.”
Monsha’at recently launched several initiatives that contribute to supporting and enabling SMEs, including the Estrdad initiative for refunding government fees, the Indirect Lending Initiative, and the Venture Capital Initiative, affirming Monsha’at’s role in raising the contribution of SMEs to GDP from 20% to 35%.