Social Development Bank’s training program helping SMEs to grow

One of the many small Saudi businesses supported by SDB is Maulava, a Riyadh based all woman kitchen by chef Amal Almarzoog, specializing in buffets serving traditional and international cuisine. (Supplied/Maulava)

• Business owners offered courses in marketing, administration, communication skills

RIYADH: The Social Development Bank has introduced a range of training programs to help small businesses across the Kingdom to grow.
The courses cover key issues like marketing and administration and also provide business owners with the chance to meet and discuss their development plans with local and international experts.
One of the companies that has benefited from the scheme is Maulava, a Riyadh-based, all-women kitchen run by chef Amal Almarzoog.
“The Social Development Bank helped me by providing the courses needed as a business owner, like marketing and business administration,” she said.
“It also helped me with my communication skills.”
Almarzoog said she would recommend SDB to other small-business owners, “because they will get all the necessary support to develop their projects.”
The SDB training program supports Saudi Vision 2030 and its goals to lower the unemployment rate, increase women’s participation in the workforce and expand the contribution of small and medium enterprises’ to 35 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the decade.