His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Province, inaugurated today the SMEs Support Center in Al-Khobar Governorate, affiliated with the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority “Monsha’at”, in the presence of the Governor of the authority, Engineer Saleh bin Ibrahim Al-Rasheed. His Royal Highness toured the center’s facilities and listened to a detailed briefing on its tasks and objectives, which center on supporting and enabling entrepreneurs and the SME sector in the region and ensuring their continuity by providing all of Monsha’at’s services, in addition to direct services in business support and facilitation, access to financing and investment, and deal-making through the deals room inside the center, alongside business networks dedicated to building a distinguished business environment, sharing success stories, and holding many meetings with decision-makers in the SMEs Support Council meeting series, to ease access to information and developmental regulatory decisions. For his part, the Governor of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, Engineer Saleh Al-Rasheed, explained that the center offers the consultation program, delivered through one-on-one sessions with specialized consultants of academic competence and commercial experience, to provide advice and answer the questions raised by entrepreneurs and SME owners in their field of specialization; the guidance program, which aims to raise the culture of entrepreneurship in the community and provide advice and direction to initiators, entrepreneurs, and SME executives; a variety of training programs to develop the administrative and professional capabilities of SME owners and staff and of entrepreneurs, in line with market needs; and a business support program through which business support consultants identify beneficiaries’ needs and refer them to the appropriate service or program offered by Monsha’at or one of its partners. He added that the SMEs Support Center in Al-Khobar Governorate is the fourth center inaugurated by Monsha’at, after the centers in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. Engineer Al-Rasheed added that Monsha’at is seeking to expand SMEs Support Centers in the future across the Kingdom’s various regions, to create an environment that offers opportunities to thrive for all micro, small, and medium enterprises, by providing supporting services and programs that match the size of each enterprise to strengthen their growth and competitiveness, out of a belief in the importance of the SME sector in supporting the national economy, driving development, and expanding the production base. The inauguration was attended by His Excellency the Mayor of the Eastern Province, Engineer Fahad Al-Jubeir; the Governor of Al-Khobar, Sulaiman Al-Thunayan; and several officials.