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Aramco Launches Taleed Program to Accelerate SME growth in Saudi Arabia

“Taleed” aims to accelerate the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)
“Taleed” aims to accelerate the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)
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Aramco Launches Taleed Program to Accelerate SME growth in Saudi Arabia

“Taleed” aims to accelerate the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)
“Taleed” aims to accelerate the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)

Aramco announced on Thursday the launch of a new program, “Taleed”, which aims to accelerate the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia — helping boost their contribution to economic development and support job creation.

The program targets sustainable SME growth across multiple sectors through a portfolio of 20 initiatives, providing a wide range of support from capability building and strategy development to training, market access, advisory services and business planning, read a press statement.

It also aims to deliver funding and financial solutions to existing and new businesses through five funds, with a combined capital exceeding SAR 3 billion ($800 million). The funds are being established in collaboration with partners to support SME development in the sustainability, digital, manufacturing, industrial and social innovation domains.

Aramco is partnering with a wide range of entities to deliver Taleed initiatives, and the Company has signed 30 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with leading public and private partners to enable development of the SME ecosystem.

Amin H. Nasser, Aramco President & CEO, said: “Aramco has long been committed to supporting the expansion of the Kingdom’s SME ecosystem, which has a critical role to play in Saudi Arabia’s economic development.”

“Through Taleed, we are working with the public sector, as well as private companies and institutions, to further develop the SME ecosystem and promote entrepreneurship. Our aim is to achieve high levels of excellence among SMEs, which in turn supports our own business and the national economy,” he added.

Ahmad A. Al-Sa’adi, Aramco Senior Vice President of Technical Services, said: “Our Taleed program is a catalyst for change that aims to elevate the contribution of both existing and new SMEs across multiple sectors, in turn promoting job creation and further enhancing the commercial operating environment.”

Taleed will provide SMEs with targeted initiatives, complementing Aramco’s other major programs designed to enhance the Company’s resilient supply chain and the domestic business landscape. These include the Company’s flagship localization program “iktva”, as well as its industrial investments program “Namaat”, advanced product development center LAB7, and entrepreneurship center Wa’ed. These interlinked programs aim to create a supportive environment in which businesses of all sizes can flourish.

The 20 initiatives being offered through Taleed are categorized into three groups:

The first focuses on job-matching upskilled local talent, including a National Vocational Apprenticeship Program and a National Freelancing Program, to provide manpower with relevant skills to companies across Saudi Arabia. The initiative aims to enable thousands of jobs across multiple new or growing industries, including steel plate manufacturing, casting and forging, offshore and subsea diving.

The second focuses on creating business opportunities for SMEs, including the establishment of world-class integrated parks in nine cities across Saudi Arabia targeting untapped fields such as agriculture, artisans and cloud kitchens.

Other components include the establishment of a National Artisans Company to address challenges faced by artisans; a Smart Shared Services initiative; a Carbon Utilization National SME Program; Sustainable City Development initiative; Value Chain Services in Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries initiative; Home Construction Inspection initiative; and Industrial E-Marketplace initiative.

The third focuses on supporting SMEs and enabling the ecosystem. This includes an SME Excellence Program to help SMEs sustain and grow their business, and 150 SMEs have already been enrolled to mark the launch of Taleed.

Ultimately, Taleed’s sustainable growth program is expected to benefit as many as 15,000 SMEs annually. Other components include an SME Mentorship program; SME Leadership Development Program; SME Net-Zero Carbon Program; National E-Commerce SME Support Platform; SME Digital Enterprise Solutions initiative; Customized Logistics Solutions for SMEs initiative; Regional SME Association; SME of the Year Awards; and SME Business Hackathon.

Coinciding with Taleed’s launch, a ceremony was held to recognize companies that have demonstrated a commitment to hiring trained Saudi employees and supporting SMEs, academies and institutions working to upskill Saudi talent, as well as outstanding graduates from these institutions.

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Expert: Türkiye Anti-inflation Steps Don’t Go Far Enough

People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
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Expert: Türkiye Anti-inflation Steps Don’t Go Far Enough

People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters

Although Turkish inflation slowed in September, it is still raging out of control with the government avoiding difficult decisions that could help tackle it, experts told AFP.

Türkiye has experienced spiraling inflation the past two years, peaking at an annual rate of 85.5 percent in October 2022 and 75.45 percent in May.

The government claims it slowed to 49.4 percent in September.

But the figures are disputed by the ENAG group of independent economists who estimate that year-on-year inflation stood at 88.6 percent in September.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said Ankara was hoping to bring inflation down to 17.6 percent by the end of 2025 and to “single digits” by 2026.

And President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently hailed Türkiye’s success in “starting the process of permanent disinflation.”

“The hard times are behind us,” he said.

But economists interviewed by AFP said the surge in consumer prices in Türkiye had become “chronic” and is being exacerbated by some government policies.

“The current drop is simply due to a base effect. The price rises over the course of a month is still high, at 2.97 percent across Türkiye and 3.9 percent in Istanbul.

“You can’t call this a success story,” said Mehmet Sisman, economics professor at Istanbul’s Marmara University.

Spurning conventional economic practice of raising interest rates to curb inflation, Erdogan has long defended a policy of lowering rates. That has sent the lira sliding, further fueling inflation.

But after his reelection in May 2023, he gave Türkiye’s Central Bank free rein to raise its main interest rate from 8.5 to 50 percent between June 2023 and March 2024.

The central bank’s rate remained unchanged in September for the sixth consecutive month.

“The fight against inflation revolves around the priorities of the financial sector. As a result, it is done indirectly and generates uncertainty,” explained Erinc Yeldan, economics professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul.

But raising interest rates alone is not enough to steady inflation without addressing massive budget deficits, according to Yakup Kucukkale, an economics professor at Karadeniz Technical University.

He pointed to Türkiye’s record budget deficit of 129.6 billion lira (3.45 billion euros).

“Simsek says this is due to expenditure linked to the reconstruction in regions hit by the February 2023 earthquake,” he said of the disaster that killed more than 53,000 people.

“But the real black hole is due to the costly public-private partnership contracts,” he said, referring to infrastructure contracts which critics say are often awarded to firms close to Erdogan’s government.

Such contracts cover construction and management of everything from motorways and bridges to hospitals and airports, and are often accompanied by generous guarantees such as state compensation in the event they are underused.

“We should question these contracts, which are a burden on the budget because this compensation is indexed to the dollar or the euro,” said Kucukkale.

Anti-inflation measures also tend to impact low-income households at a time when the minimum wage hasn’t been raised since January, he said.

“But these people already have little purchasing power. To lower demand, such measures must target higher-income groups, but there is hardly anything affecting them,” he said.