RIYADH, 10 March 2005 — The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) has embarked on a new program to help young Saudi men and women to identify business opportunities, develop business plans, and launch their own small enterprises.
The first such program is to be held in the Eastern Province beginning Saturday. Dubbed “Entrepreneurship Development Training Program for new venture creation”, it will focus on business start-up strategies for young Saudi entrepreneurs.
The plan comes within the framework of a trilateral agreement among HRDF, Saudi Entrepreneurship Development Institute (SEDI) and Al Falak, the leading IT and communications solutions provider in the GCC region. It is designed to encourage young nationals to start new businesses in the Eastern Province.
“The active participation of a country’s youth in the development of its economy is crucial to national prosperity. Saudi Arabia has a very rich talent pool of highly educated and skilled graduates, who can bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to start-up businesses. All that is required is a focused training on dealing with the operational, financial and market realities of such a venture,” explained Ahmed Ali Ashadawi, president and CEO, Al-Falak. “Along with its partners, Al-Falak aims to provide this training, as well as post start-up support, to ensure the growth of important market segment.”
The project is based on the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) scientifically tested tools and methods. The duration of the program is five weeks followed by six months of consulting to facilitate enterprise launching. The program will provide linkages for licensing, finance, access to technology and other services.
Saturday’s program is to address 27 Saudi men and 12 women interested in starting their own enterprises. “ Its intake of trainees is limited to ensure quality interaction between participants and trainers,” SEDI Director Professor Nanda Gopal told Arab News, adding that the selection of participants was through a test on entrepreneurial capabilities and a specialized interview on focused behavior.
SEDI has a database of 200 business opportunities in the Kingdom developed through extensive market research. These are business investment opportunities exclusive to the Kingdom.
According to the agreement, SEDI will organize the training program, HRDF will subsidize the cost and Al-Falak will provide facilities to conduct the actual training.
The Kingdom allocates a major chunk of its national budget to education and vocational training. The HRDF program runs parallel to that of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT). Under it, all unemployed Saudis will be first classified into two categories: Qualified and unqualified candidates.