In light of Saudi Arabia's efforts to increase the participation of the private sector in the new initiatives to boost the Kingdom’s economy, investment and trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh recently stressed the need to launch various financing programs to support entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the wake of the pandemic.
In this regard, the Riyadh Chamber launched a virtual workshop on Sunday to study a number of options, programs and financing products to support entrepreneurs and SMEs, based on their vital role in achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.
The workshop, organized by the Entrepreneurship Committee at the Riyadh Chamber in cooperation with the General Authority for SMEs, discussed on Sunday a number of issues and challenges facing these enterprises with regards to obtaining financing to ensure the sustainability of their commercial activities.
Nayef Al-Obaidi, member of the Entrepreneurship Committee, explained that creating financing programs and products to support entrepreneurs and SMEs was “an urgent necessity to maximize their economic role.”
For his part, Munif Al-Otaibi, head of Business Banking for SMEs at the Saudi British Bank (SABB), emphasized “the interest of banks in this large segment of establishments and the endeavor to provide various products to meet their financing needs to help them grow and develop.”
“By the end of the third quarter of last year, the volume of bank financing reached 164 billion riyals ($3.3 billion),” he said, noting SABB has launched a number of financing programs targeting entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises.
Ibrahim Al-Mansour, Director of the SMEs Finance Center at the Arab Bank stated that the bank’s financing programs targeted all sectors, except for those that do not support the GDP.
He noted that his bank focused in particular on providing financing for SMEs that have entered the operational phase.
