RIYADH, 19 October 2004 — Backed by an initiative from the Human Resources Development Fund, 17 young Saudi men and women are on their way to becoming entrepreneurs in the fields of agriculture, transportation, franchising, and dental surgery for women, among other projects.
The launching pad for the new business ideas was a seminar jointly organized by HRDF and the Saudi Entrepreneurship Development Institute (SEDI), a non-profit organization, with technical support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The venue was the Saudi-German Hospital, whose chairman and CEO Sobhi A. Batterjee, who is also president of SEDI, spoke at the seminar during which he stressed the need for a single government agency to facilitate the licensing and setting up of small and medium enterprises in a speedy manner.
The initiative is significant, since it could make a sizable dent into the problem of unemployment among Saudis by marrying their capital to new business ideas from SEDI.
Thanks to the seminar, the young Saudis have embarked on innovative ventures away from their traditional lines of business. According to Mohammed Al-Mohsen, manager of training programs at HRDF, Ali Bukhamis, a graduate son of a date farm owner, has decided to set up a facility for seasoning and packaging of dates to make them a value-added product.
“I have already received orders from various dealers, while negotiations are in progress with a firm in Malaysia,” Bukhamis said.
Sami S. Al-Harbi, a student from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, has come up with the idea of going into mobile business. “The program has helped me increase my business fourfold. Now I don’t have to look for a job. I am proud to be a Saudi businessman thanks to the input from the SEDI program.”
Al-Mohsen said Ramzy A. Al-Khitabi, another young entrepreneur, is launching a project for an integrated truck service station. He is now negotiating with various financial institutions for a loan for the purchase of heavy-duty trucks. “The total cost of the project is SR800,000,” the HRDF official said.
In another case, Saeed S. Al-Qarni, currently employed by Saudi Etisalat as a project manager, has joined SEDI to crystallize business ideas for an FMCG mart in a prime location run by high technology similar to Wall Mart.
He pointed out that another beneficiary from the seminar was Khaled H. Al-Harithy, an industrial management graduate, who feels that it helped him crystallize ideas for a discount card club. He said the program gave him new insight into opportunity identification, project scanning, market surveying, and conducting feasibility studies.
Iman A. Fallatah, an active member from Madinah who has specialized in dental surgery, is planning to set up a specialized business center for women in Madinah as the service is not available to many Saudi women in that city.
“Saudi society is conservative and many women would like to go for dental surgery in privacy,” she added.
