“This trend reflects the Bank’s awareness of the rapid changes taking place in this vital sector and its commitment to providing the necessary support to establishments in this sector to ensure their easy access to financing solutions and enable them to easily manage their commercial transactions for the prosperity and growth of their business,” she said.
“The bank is making significant strides to promote the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Kingdom by investing and managing the “Al Waha” Fund of Funds. Notably, the Al Waha Fund has successfully achieved 95% of its target investment value within just 5 years, primarily through investing in venture capital companies, which then allocate funds to technology companies”.
Safa Abdulkhaliq, CEO of Export Bahrain, highlighted the importance of Export Bahrain and its role in increasing exports and providing access to global markets.
She noted that Export Bahrain is employing all its capabilities and efforts to contribute to raising the proportion of exports and simplifying the business and export environment.
Export Bahrain is taking many measures, initiatives and solutions to make national products and services more competitive in global and regional market, she said.
The Export Bahrain CEO added that since its launch in November 2018, Export Bahrain has been successful in facilitating the export of goods and services worth $500 million (BD 188 million) targeting small, medium, and large enterprises.
“It has also provided access to 86 global markets and established over 40 international partnerships, allowing 26% of enterprises to diversify their markets, with 21% of them being young exporters in various sectors,” she said.
“To enhance the enterprises’ access to global markets and platforms, Export Bahrain has continued to improve its export initiatives, supporting 25% of customers in their first export experience. Additionally, the percentage of women exporters has reached 30%, and the proportion of exporting services is 22%”.
As the world marks the annual World Small and Medium Enterprises Day on the 27th of June, the SMEs Development Board of Bahrain is committed to promoting the growth and sustainability of small and medium enterprises through its various initiatives.
These initiatives are made possible through the continued cooperation and collaboration with the private sector to provide the necessary resources and support for SMEs to make significant contributions to the kingdom’s economy in terms of GDP, exports, and employment.
The board is also proactively monitoring and keeping up to date on developments in order to launch more impactful initiatives that will assist the development of small and medium enterprises.
BNA(R)
