Tamkeen to unveil 2015 - 2017 strategy

Tamkeen’s Board of Directors held its third regular meeting of 2014 on Tuesday, 23rd September 2014, during which the members reviewed the financial statements of the first 6 months of the year, Tamkeen’s revamped Enterprise Support programme, and the 2015 – 2017 overall corporate strategy in preparation for upcoming public consultations at the end of the current month.

The financial reports for the first six months of 2014 showed that Tamkeen’s revenues from the Labour Market Regulatory Authority fees reached BD 38 million.

Over that same period, Tamkeen’s expenditures for its support programmes targeting enterprises and individuals reached BD 39 million, with BD 31 million spent on its various support programmes, and BD 8 million for the unemployment insurance Tamkeen pays on behalf of private sector businesses to the Social Insurance Organisation as mandated by law.

Tamkeen Chairman and Acting Chief Executive, His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa stated, “The Board of Directors reviewed the draft of Tamkeen’s 2015 - 2017 strategy and Tamkeen Project Manual. The new strategy encapsulates the organisation’s restructured operations and programmes, and underscores the commitment to our strategic objectives of enhancing quality, being more customer-oriented, and achieving better results to serve the dynamic needs of the market.”

The draft of the new strategy will be shared with the public at the Strategy Consultation Forum, scheduled to be held on Sunday and Monday (Sept 28 – 29) with nearly 600 participants who represent all strata of the private sector, whether individuals or enterprises.

“The draft of the 2015-2017 strategy reflects a new paradigm for the organisation’s operations and programmes, and is based on feedback from the public, results of impact assessment studies, and recommendations of the National Audit Court. Expenditures will become more focused and effective with revamped programmes that are increasingly flexible, customisable, and user-friendly to better fulfill customers' individual needs,” added H.E. Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa.

Among these key revamped programmes is the Enterprise Support Programme, which was approved by the Board ahead of its re-launch at the end of the month. The revamped programme comes with a host of features designed to make it more flexible, transparent, streamlined, and measurable, including an online portal which enables customers and service providers to apply and track applications easily and conveniently.

In addition, the revamped programme will enable Tamkeen to serve all types of enterprises - from startups to growth and development - through a unified process which provides tailored support solutions for each individual enterprise. The revamped system also links the support amount with the potential of the enterprise’s economic potential and degree of success in achieving its development goals.

To date, the Enterprise Support programme has served over 9,100 enterprises, with the support amount reaching in excess of BD 78.2 million.

Lastly, the Board were also updated on the project with Gulf Air to train and certify 40 Bahrainis as aircraft engineers and technicians by providing on-the-job training in the airline’s Technical Department.  The trainees are the last batch of Bahrainis that Tamkeen supported under its aviation training programmes. The Board commended Tamkeen’s ongoing efforts in creating training and employment opportunities in the various sectors and its support of these trainees.

The Tamkeen Board of Directors consists of 9 members representing the organisations which spearhead the development of the private sector, with 3 members representing the public sector and 6 the private sector divided as follows: Government (Sh. Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa and Abdulellah Al-Qassimi), Economic Development Board (Dr. Zakaria Hejres), Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Mr. Khalid Al-Amin, Mr. Isa Abdulrahim, and Mr. Kadhim Al Saeed), General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (Mr. Sayyid Salman Mahfoodh and Mr. Mohammed Abdulrahman), and Bahrain Association of Banks (Abdulkarim Bucheery).