Tamkeen injects $2.2bn into private sector
Bahrain’s Labour Fund, Tamkeen, has injected nearly BD830 million ($2.2 billion) since 2006 into the development of the private sector to achieve the Kingdom’s goals of making the private sector as the main engine of the national economy, while also ensuring that Bahraini citizens are the first choice in the labour market.
To date, Tamkeen has provided support to more than 200,000 individuals and more than 53,000 institutions
The main initiatives of Tamkeen is to support the private sector and it is done through several packages designed to meet the needs of enterprises and individuals: The Individual Support Program and the Enterprise Support Program, under which the Business Development, and the Training and Wage Support program fall under.
Supporting the Private Sector through Business Development
With regards to the Business Development Program, which covers up to 50% of the costs of operational materials and services, the total support provided to enterprises since 2009 amounts to BD193 million, covering 13,659 enterprises. Since 2014, the Business Development Program has benefited 47% of startups, 42% of small and medium enterprises, and 11% of large enterprises. The sectors that benefited from this program were 55% from the service sector, 25% from the trade and retail sector, and 20% from the construction sector.
Supporting Training and Wages
The Training and Wage Support program has contributed towards supporting the wage increment of 26,146 Bahraini employees since the launch of the program in 2007, with a total support amounting to BD36 million, and an average support per institution of BD1,400. Accordingly, the average wage of beneficiaries increased from BD668 to BD760, an increase of BD92.
Through this program, training has been provided to 20,481 Bahrainis since 2016, with the total amount of support for enterprises to train their employees reaching to BD21.6 million in total. With this program, more than 44,000 training opportunities were supported for Bahrainis, at the rate of two training opportunities per employee.
In recent years, there’s been a significant growth in the amount of support, a result of the reintroduction of the Training and Wage Support program for the private sector employees in its new form, which also supports the objectives of the National Employment Program. The average support per enterprise for each employed individual amounts to BD3,800.
Promoting Sustainable Economic Development
Tamkeen has devoted its efforts towards achieving its objectives by conducting market studies and research to acquire the data and requirements for development. This research contributes towards creating new and better job opportunities for Bahrainis, by offering a number of training initiatives with strategic partners in promising sectors, such as cloud computing, ICT accelerators, in addition to hosting global events. This has included hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Conference (GEC), which was held for the first time in the Middle East right here in Bahrain.
Tamkeen also got advanced ranking by the Global Startup Ecosystem report, Startup Genome as on the top 10 emerging startup ecosystems in 2019 and 2020.
In addition, Tamkeen has partnered with Microsoft and Bahrain Polytechnic to launch the Artificial Intelligence Academy, which aims to provide expertise and opportunities for Bahrainis to grain practical experience in emerging fields related to AI, data sciences and innovation using the latest technologies and applications.
Tamkeen also partnered with Huawei to provide a training program aimed to encourage more Bahraini youth to get into the ICT field, while enhancing the ICT sector as well, and providing more job opportunities for students and recent graduates. Moreover, Tamkeen’s initiatives included a cooperation with the international Fives Group for engineering Industries in the field of industrial training which aimed at providing international work experience in private engineering companies with the Five group, to introduce the participants with international practices, requirements and standards in this field.
Business Continuity Support Program in 2020
Following the Royal Directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to unite the national efforts in combating the impacts caused by the global spread of the Coronavirus in 2020, Tamkeen has redirected its programs towards supporting adversely affected small and micro enterprises. The support was provided through financial grants to cover their operational expenses, alongside the numerous initiatives provided by the Government to support individuals and enterprises during this time. Tamkeen has also expanded its circle of beneficiaries to support taxi and public transport drivers, and kindergarten workers.
During this time, Tamkeen has provided support to more than 15,600 small and micro enterprises, with the total budget exceeding BD54 million. – TradeArabia News Service
Source: http://www.tradearabia.com/news/EDU_376458.html
