Saudi Arabia will allocate eight billion to boost business and venture capital
The last day of the Biban 23 Forum held in Saudi Arabia ended with the announcement of an important economic agreement that will benefit, above all, Saudi SMEs. The most important national forum in terms of investment and entrepreneurship concluded on Monday with a pledge by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, in cooperation with the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat), to invest up to eight billion dollars to boost business and venture capital to develop various sectors.
The three main sectors are industry, mining and logistics services, which are expected to receive the first aid. The Ministry argues that the agreement is established with the aim of establishing a framework for joint action between the two parties involved, in order to unify efforts. They believe it is essential to be able to promote coordination and effective joint action in order to accelerate the economic growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. All this through the creation of incubators and accelerators for companies, especially SMEs.
However, the Ministry and Monshaat will not be the only ones to be part of this project. The Saudi Arabian Industrial Development Fund has signed a cooperation agreement with Monshaat to provide advisory support to small and medium-sized enterprises in launching new programmes in the industrial sector. In line with what the Saudi country has long been pushing for, this agreement aims to create new business opportunities and encourage the launch of new ideas, as well as support for entrepreneurship within the country itself, rather than just attracting foreign companies.
Despite the fact that Arabia is enjoying an increasing number of companies seeking to establish their headquarters in the country due to the good conditions it offers for investors, Riyadh hopes to grow an important niche of domestic companies. Hence, this agreement also includes a series of projects to enable entrepreneurs to expand their knowledge and basic skills to identify and develop investment ideas. Training is seen as one of the pillars that will enable the country to make a leap in business quality, one of the fundamental pillars of the key Saudi project, Vision 2030
During the Biban 23 Forum itself, the Saudi Arabian Social Development Bank announced that, "in its commitment to enhance entrepreneurship and support small and medium-sized enterprises", it will provide $6.3 billion in financing over the next three years. CEO Ibrahim al-Rashid said the bank's strategy is to "boost economic productivity within programmes and products to provide financing solutions for emerging businesses, develop support services, offer alternatives and encourage economic activity in less developed regions".
In this way, Biban 23 concluded with its slogan "Fostering Tangible Opportunities", and with a project that follows the line of growth that the Kingdom has been working on for some time.
