Highlighting Q1 results of BRJ in Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Al-Fihaid, BRJ executive director in Saudi Arabia, announced that the Productive Household Program created 7,002 jobs. Based on the micro-finance concept, the Productive Household Program provides interest-free loans of SR5,000 to a group of three to five women to start their own micro-projects.

Raja’a Mohammed Al-Hamad, one of the Productive Household Program’s beneficiaries in Ahsa, said she has started making handcrafts, such as hairbands. She plans to repay the loan as quickly as she can to move to the second stage and get a bigger loan.

The Direct Employment Program came second by creating 3,232 jobs during the quarter. The program created 2,222 jobs for men and 1,010 jobs for women. The program matches job seekers and employers available at private sector companies and introduces companies to qualified men and women through a BRJ database.

In third place came the Small Projects Finance Program, which created 1,229 projects, of which 923 projects were for women.

Mishaal Al-Biaija, a beneficiary of the Small Projects Finance Program through BRJ's Alkhobar branch, said he was looking for a job for a long time until he finally heard that BRJ was creating diversified job opportunities for young men and women.

Mishaal immediately applied at BRJ and received SR100,000 to set up his tailor shop.

“Thank God, now I am repaying the installments and saving some money,” Mishaal said.

In the Training Ending With Employment Program, which came fourth, BRJ created 513 jobs, of which 116 were for women.

Through the Taxi and Truck Ownership Program, BRJ created 208 job opportunities, including 127 jobs for taxi drivers and 81 for truck drivers. In these programs, young men own their vehicles after payment of installments.

Foad Oada Al-Sobhi, a beneficiary of the program in Yanbu, said he used to work as a truck driver and received a salary at the end of every month. He dreamed of buying his own truck. Al-Sobhi applied to BRJ and received a loan of SR150,000.

“Currently, I can easily pay the installments and generate an excellent income. I advise young men to start their own projects. Undoubtedly, BRJ is an excellent opportunity for young males and females to say goodbye to unemployment,” Al-Sobhi added.

As part of BRJ activities and programs, Nafisa Shams Academy for Arts and Crafts provided training for 265 women in different fields, including soap production, secretarial works and tailoring and toys production.

In addition, jobs have been created for 102 women through the Work from Home Program, which is supervised by Nafisa Shams Academy. Through this program, women have produced approximately 2,000 prayer rugs a month, which is sold to Toyota and Lexus. During 2011 Q1, 8,751 prayer rugs were produced..

Al-Fihaid said that job opportunities are different from monthly-paid jobs. Job opportunities could be a long-term position, a fixed-salary position, a part-time job, a small project, a self-employment project, such as the taxi ownership, a marketing agent receiving a commission, a consultant or any other available opportunity that could generate income.

“Through BRJ, we are seeking to create job opportunities for young Saudis. We cooperate with several governmental bodies, such as the Human Resources Development Fund, the Saudi Credit and Savings Bank, the Ministry of Labor, the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation and other bodies that support job-creation programs to achieve their goals,” Al-Fihaid said.