Tamkeen holds first Consultation Workshop with the public

Tamkeen conducted the first of four days of scheduled workshops as part of its efforts to share its current and planned projects with the public and how Tamkeen can further develop these programmes to meet market challenges. The first day of workshops, which focused on businesses, was attended by over 100 business owners, entrepreneurs, managers, and community leaders from a wide range of sectors. Tamkeen’s Chief Executive, Mr. Mahmood Al Kooheji, welcomed the efforts of the workshop participants who have come from differing backgrounds in providing valuable opinions as well as insights, and he emphasised on the importance of cooperation and collaboration in order to enhance the growth of Bahraini individuals and businesses in the private sector. \"At Tamkeen, we continuously strive to provide the private sector with different programmes and initiatives that supply critical support to business owners and Bahraini individuals. The participants in the workshop today played a key role in relaying constructive feedback regarding the challenges that business owners currently face and the solutions necessary in order to overcome these challenges. This feedback will be integrated to be a part of our future plans and will allow us to more accurately gauge needs and provide a roadmap for the programmes that we intend to launch to support the private sector.\" Senior Manager, Customer Engagement and Support at Tamkeen, Mr. Yousif Ali, also welcomed the attendees, and gave them an overview of Tamkeen’s support programmes. After discussing the current challenges that are facing the market and areas for improvement with regards to Tamkeen’s services in the first session, attendees brainstormed ideas and solutions to address these challenges. The main issues outlined by the participants were long application and approval processes to benefit from the support programmes, recruiting qualified Bahraini employees, providing more training opportunities for both employees and employers, and promoting innovation and manufacturing. In order to fulfill those needs, the participants provided some suggestions which included enabling online applications , providing programmes to support export activities and international trade, providing more flexible and customised training solutions, increasing the support amount through the Enterprise Development Support schemes, in addition to allowing beneficiaries to pool the support amount and control how much of this fund is allocated to each scheme. Suggestions also included providing more support programmes to innovators and entrepreneurs as well as having Tamkeen enter as a partner or investor in select ventures with different sectors. The second day of workshops is taking place today (October 2) with a focus on the workforce in Bahrain. Participants will similarly discuss the main challenges and put forth their recommendations to Tamkeen. The workshops for businesses and workforce will be held again on October 6 & 7 2013. People interested in attending the workshops can email Tamkeen at opplan@tamkeen.bh , fax (17-382 706), or call (17-383 399).