Bahrain’s Labour Fund (Tamkeen) signed new strategic partnership agreements with six banks to provide a comprehensive range of financing solutions for private sector enterprises.
The banks include Bahrain Islamic Bank, Khaleeji Commercial Bank, Al Baraka Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Ithmaar Bank, and Al Salam Bank. The signings are an addition to previously announced strategic partnership agreements with Bahrain Development Bank and Ahli United Bank.
These partnerships provide enterprises with the necessary capital to fuel their development and growth locally and internationally. Tamkeen’s 2021-2025 strategy aims to deliver higher impact for the economy in alignment with national economic priorities and market needs.
Husain Mohamed Rajab, Chief Executive of Tamkeen welcomed this collaboration with financial institutions, emphasizing the role Tamkeen plays by incentivizing investment, employment and training across all sectors with a special emphasis on high potential sectors, all of which create a positive ripple effect across the national economy.
He said: “We highly value these strategic partnerships with key players in Bahrain’s financial services sector to facilitate opportunities for growth and development for enterprises in the Kingdom. These financing schemes help companies achieve their business objectives, therefore empowering their success and increasing their contribution to our national economy.”
Empowering enterprises is one of Tamkeen’s core mandates and as such, Tamkeen has supported over 65,000 enterprises in Bahrain through various programs and initiatives, providing specific support when required, including through the business continuity program which supported over 22,000 enterprises during the global pandemic.
Furthermore, Tamkeen enabled over 19,000 entrepreneurs to launch new businesses, fostering a thriving startup ecosystem in Bahrain. Tamkeen’s partnership with financial institutions to offer financing schemes stretches over 13 years where more than 7,000 micro and small businesses have been supported.
This initiative builds on years of impact delivered for local enterprises, bringing them more financing options to leverage their success. The support will be offered through some of Tamkeen’s recently announced programs, including Start Your Business, Business Growth, Go Digital, and others.
Tamkeen recently launched 16 support programs as part of its strategic transformation initiative that focuses on creating greater impact for the national economy. These programs serve Tamkeen’s main objectives of making the private sector the engine of economic growth and Bahrainis the employee of choice locally and internationally, empowering their contribution to sustainable economic development in the Kingdom.
