A TOTAL of BD130 million was spent this year to support over 234,400 individuals and establishments in Bahrain.
Statistics released yesterday by Tamkeen showed that of the combined 234,464, more than 51,000 establishments and almost 183,000 individuals – mainly employees – were supported by 339 training and development programmes until October of this year.
Tamkeen’s latest figures and plans for the coming year were discussed at an annual Consultation Forum, which was held yesterday at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain and attended by more than 350 representatives of various stakeholders.
The Tamkeen Consultation Forum also featured panel discussions, which focused on several key themes that concern the various economic sectors including ‘Start-Up Ecosystem’, ‘Productivity as a Key Measure of Success’, and ‘Matching Skills set with the Labour Market’s Needs’.
“Tamkeen’s 2018-2020 strategy, which was formulated on the basis of intensive co-ordination and outreach efforts with a wide segment of stakeholders from the various sectors, has made significant headway in achieving its vision,” said Tamkeen chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa.
“Tamkeen is fully committed to ensuring adding value and enhancing support opportunities that serve as wide a segment of individuals and enterprises as possible.
“(Tamkeen’s third quarter) financial statement shows an increase of around BD10m in Tamkeen’s support to the development of individuals and enterprises’ performance.”
The training programmes and development initiatives were divided between individuals (225) and establishments (114). Establishments received BD32.7m worth of support, with 95 per cent of them receiving support for equipment, digital solutions and information communication technology.
A total of BD118m was also given to businesses as part of Tamkeen’s funding programmes through partnerships with banks, where 44pc of the total of the funding was for capital money.
While of the 183,000 people who took part in the programmes, 69pc were fresh graduates and saw an BD81 increase rate in wages.
Two new projects were also announced at the forum, which were a programme to support innovative business models and another to support capital increase for companies through the Bahraini investment market.
The innovative business programme will include a grant of up to BD10,000 for companies that have a virtual commercial record or that have been established for more than one year.
The grant covers development, design and testing of the first sample of products.
As for the other programme it includes a grant to support 50pc of the cost of specialised consultancy fees to integrate companies into the Bahrain Investment Market.
The objective of the project is to enable promising companies to obtain the capital required for growth through direct investment.
The programme will also provide support to existing companies with a paid up capital of BD210,000 as per Bahrain Stock Exchange regulations and conditions.
“Bahrain is on the cusp of a new era of economic measures that will contribute to supporting sustainable growth in the national economy, among the implementation of VAT in the beginning of 2019,” said Tamkeen chief executive Dr Ebrahim Janahi.
“The support opportunities Tamkeen is working on developing will complement all the other efforts aimed at optimal utilisation of these value resources for both enterprises and national economic growth.”
He added that Tamkeen recently upgraded customer service procedures within the Enterprise Support Programme to better meet the needs of enterprises and provide advanced digital solutions to streamline the support delivery process.
ghazi@gdn.com.bh
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