Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority will launch an interactive forum (BIBAN), which will be held at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention center from September 17 – 20, 2017.

Governor of the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Dr. Ghassan al-Sulaiman said during a press conference on Sunday that the BIBAN forum is an important event to create a new culture for the SMEs sector. The event will highlight successes and challenges of SMEs in Saudi Arabia.

“BIBAN conference aims to raise the community awareness of the importance of innovation and creativity for entrepreneurship as well as to create a nurturing environment and the technical infrastructure to support competitiveness among SMEs,” he added.

Sulaiman revealed that the SMEs sector represents 99.2 percent of the total business in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, “Monsha’at” is working with its partners from all sectors to help SMEs to increase their contribution in the GDP, from 20 to 35 percent, according to the Saudi vision 2030. “This sector is a basic source for job opportunities in the country and is also one of the main pillars to diversify the income sources for the national’s economy,” he said.

Sulaiman stressed the importance of the BIBAN forum as an interactive event that aims to review successful models of SMEs. “The forum has been designed to overcome obstacles such as weak communication among stakeholders and the low interest of entrepreneurs, who are not familiar with the government systems,” he said.

“BIBAN will address these challenges in line with the SMEs owners and entrepreneurs’ needs and aspirations (enrichment, empowerment, education and development). The conference will focus on the available investments opportunities, taking into the consideration the local market’s current and future needs,” he added.

For his part, Key Accounts VP and Business Development VP of Saudi Telecom Company (STC) Riyadh Saeed Muawad said that the growth of the SMEs sector is central to achieving the Saudi vision 2030 for the future generations.

The forum reflects a dynamic interactive concept in line with the young entrepreneurs’ aspirations to realize their ideas and dreams. The BIBAN conference also opens the doors for a realistic dialogue on the challenges faced by the SMEs sector, including regulations, legislations and the ability to achieve efficient management of funds.

BIBAN will highlight positive and successful models in the community to learn more from their experience. This step will support young entrepreneurs, who have an idea but do not know where to start, to understand the regulations and learn how to obtain tools to support their operations and administrative and technical solutions.

It will create a new thought and environment in dealing with entrepreneurs to support their future and ambitions.

The 12 stations that the BIBAN forum will set up at the conference will provide visitors with rich knowledge. They include the journey, conference, awards, exhibition, market, communication, empowerment, opportunities, solutions, training, enterprises and digital stations.