Ex-minister calls for new body to oversee launch of fund for SMES
‘Curb legal restrictions on entrepreneurs’
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 25, (KUNA): Kuwait’s establishment of the KD one billion fund for supporting small and medium enterprises is helpful in efforts to shore up the national economy and falls in line with the national approach to diversify resources of income.
This assertion was made by officials and experts, who underscored that the launch of the fund was in implementation of the unprecedented initiative by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
Dr Amani Bourseli, former minister of commerce and a professor, called in this vein for establishing an authority to oversee the launch of such ventures and limiting legal restrictions on entrepreneurs as well as diversifying the resources of funding of such projects. In this respect, commercial and Islamic banks can play a role, along with government incentives and guarantees, she opined, in an interview with KUNA.
She called for establishing a research center to enrich the data base of this sector, which constitutes a prime factor for the diversification of the economic resources and creation of jobs in the private sector.
Moreover, it is necessary to set up a specialized training center to take charge of habilitating and training the entrepreneurs launch such projects.
Dr Adel Al-Wugayyan, Secretary General of the Supreme Development and Planning Center, said the State should exert further efforts to encourage citizens, namely the young ones, to launch their own enterprises, to boost the private sector and contribute to efforts to diversify the resources of the national income.
Small entrepreneurs need to be backed with diverse means, namely feasibility studies, information and logistics, said Dr Al-Wugayyan.
Kuwait Small Project Development Company General Manager Hassan Al-Ginaee said the fund would help the youth launch their small ventures and this in turn would boost “concepts of free enterprise.” Small enterprises contribute to broadening the productivity basis, absorbing a high proportion of unemployed national cadres, boosting savings and investments.
Contribution
He said that his company offers KD 400,000 for an entrepreneur. Such a contribution is free of interest, he said, adding that the company does not charge fees for its participation in a venture.
The company, between 2007 and 2012, approved 125 projects. Proportion of supported women enterprises reached 50.4 percent.
For her part, Hind Al-Sebeeh, the general manager of Kuwait Industries Union, said the federation seeks to entice the youth to make initiatives and invest in enterprises. It also contributes to service, industrial, vocational and handicraft sectors.
Economy’s professor Dr Hassan Al-Najjar said the small and medium businesses constitute some of the fundamentals for success of development, confirming that the number of Kuwaiti youth with desire to launch small businesses has mounted.
Unemployed youth, aged under 21, in Kuwait constitute 51 percent of the population, he said, affirming that the launch of the fund was a step in the right direction. “However, its success is to be measured by how many jobs it can create,” he cautioned.
Dr Najjar urged the State to guide the young businessmen and businesswomen to establish small factories. Dr Bader Othman Mal-Lallah, the director general of the Arab Planning Institute, said the small and medium enterprises are basic factors for economic and social development. Moreover, supporting this sector is also back-up for the private sector and is helpful for expanding the industrial and productivity basis and acquisition of modern technology.
Furthermore, it enhances selfreliance to meet domestic needs of commodities and services in addition to the contribution to limit reliance on oil for income.
Nabila Al-Enjeri, a consultant company chairperson, said “small enterprises will be part of the economic security,” calling for strategies to support this approach.