The Board of Directors of the SME Loan Guarantee Program (Kafalah) held the first meeting of its new term yesterday morning, Wednesday, at the program’s headquarters in Riyadh, chaired by His Excellency Doctor Ghassan bin Ahmed Al Sulaiman, Governor of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority “Monsha’at” and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kafalah Program.

The meeting discussed the program’s work and the support mechanism for the SME sector, and examined further activating the role of financing entities in supporting the sector, which receives great attention from the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, may Allah protect him, to raise its contribution to GDP in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

His Excellency Doctor Ghassan bin Ahmed Al Sulaiman, Governor of Monsha’at and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kafalah Program, emphasized that the program’s Board of Directors seeks to work on activating cooperation between the SME sector and financial institutions and banks, with the aim of supporting, strengthening, and stabilizing the sector and achieving high rates of financing from commercial banks in the Kingdom’s various regions, in support of economic and social development.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kafalah explained that the program’s role in supporting the SME sector is in line with the directions and strategy of Monsha’at, contributing to increasing the sector’s contribution to GDP from 20% to 35% in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

Al Sulaiman expressed his thanks to His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Investment, Doctor Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, for his keen follow-up of all the entities concerned with supporting the SME sector and for bringing about integration among them, in order to remove the obstacles facing SME owners, advance the sector, and bring about economic diversification.

Doctor Al Sulaiman added that during the Board’s meeting several topics were discussed relating to developing the program in a way that serves the sector and meets the aspirations of SME owners, and to further activating the role of financing entities and encouraging them to finance the sector, helping to overcome the main financing obstacle facing the owners of these enterprises.

The decision of His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Investment, Doctor Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, was recently issued on 23 Muharram 1438H, corresponding to October 24, 2016, appointing His Excellency Doctor Ghassan bin Ahmed Al Sulaiman, Governor of Monsha’at, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SME Loan Guarantee Program (Kafalah).