The Council’s Trade and Investment Committee emphasized the importance of developing effective integrated initiatives to set the small business sector on the right track, enabling it to grow and promote Saudization in a manner commensurate with the sector’s size and challenges, This came during the committee’s discussion of the annual report of the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises for the fiscal year 1442/1443.

Payment of SME dues

The committee examined the necessary solutions to address the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises regarding delays in payments owed to them, and the negative impact this has on the sustainability of their operations. The committee also explored the idea of creating an «index to measure government agencies» commitment to paying enterprises" and monitoring it periodically.

Innovation and Launching Successful Companies

The attendees discussed ways to leverage successful global experiences of university business incubators to promote innovation and launch numerous globally successful companies in the technology, health, artificial intelligence, and other promising competitive sectors, and to examine the mechanisms needed to implement them to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the Kingdom.
Contributing to the national economy

At the meeting, committee members emphasized the importance of supporting and empowering the Authority with the data and statistics necessary to measure the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises to the national economy in general and the localization of jobs within it, as well as preparing the necessary studies to provide financial support to those enterprises in accordance with controls and mechanisms thatpreserve the privacy and confidentiality of such data.

Key Challenges Facing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Delays in payments owed by government agencies.

Leveraging global experiences and launching globally successful companies.

Studying the mechanisms needed to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

Measuring the contribution of these enterprises to the national economy in general.

Localizing jobs within these enterprises and preparing the necessary studies to provide financial support to them.