Riyad Bank was a key sponsor and partner to the fifth forum for small and medium-sized businesses.
The Chamber of Commerce in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region organized the event with the support of Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif on Dec. 23.
As part of its participation, Riyad Bank’s banking specialists met with SME owners at the bank’s booth to talk about solutions tailored for small to medium businesses in the Kingdom.
The bank’s expanding network of branches which support locally-based SMEs was also the focus of discussions.
“Riyad Bank is one of the leading banks in the Kingdom, when it comes to supporting small to medium businesses and their growth,” said Hisham Al-Abdali, senior vice president for commercial banking at Riyah Bank.
“Events such as this are essential for meeting with SME business owners face-to-face and understanding how we can best provide financial solutions to empower the Kingdom’s entrepreneurs.”
The bank has a range of financial programs and advisory services for SMEs, to help them gain access to funding that will help them grow, including Islamic financing, extended lines of credit to support working capital and corporate credit cards.
Up until the third quarter of 2014, the bank has provided up to SR2.6 billion of funding to approximately 1,500 SMEs nationwide through these initiatives.
Riyad Bank keen to expand SME support
Riyad Bank keen to expand SME support
Lebanese social entrepreneur Omar Itani recognized by Schwab Foundation
- FabricAID co-founder among 21 global recipients recognized for social innovation
DAVOS: Lebanon’s Omar Itani is one of 21 recipients of the Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the Year Award by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Itani is the co-founder of social enterprise FabricAID, which aims to “eradicate symptoms of poverty” by collecting and sanitizing secondhand clothing before placing items in stores in “extremely marginalized areas,” he told Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
With prices ranging from $0.25 to $4, the goal is for people to have a “dignified shopping experience” at affordable prices, he added.
FabricAID operates a network of clothing collection bins across key locations in Lebanon and Jordan, allowing people to donate pre-loved items. The garments are cleaned and sorted before being sold through the organization’s stores, while items that cannot be resold due to damage or heavy wear are repurposed for other uses, including corporate merchandise.
Since its launch, FabricAID has sold more than 1 million items, reached 200,000 beneficiaries and is preparing to expand into the Egyptian market.
Amid uncertainty in the Middle East, Itani advised young entrepreneurs to reframe challenges as opportunities.
“In Lebanon and the Arab world, we complain a lot,” he said. Understandably so, as “there are a lot of issues” in the region, resulting in people feeling frustrated and wanting to move away. But, he added, “a good portion of the challenges” facing the Middle East are “great economic and commercial opportunities.”
Over the past year, social innovators raised a combined $970 million in funding and secured a further $89 million in non-cash contributions, according to the Schwab Foundation’s recent report, “Built to Last: Social Innovation in Transition.”
This is particularly significant in an environment of geopolitical uncertainty and at a time when 82 percent report being affected by shrinking resources, triggering delays in program rollout (70 percent) and disruptions to scaling plans (72 percent).
Francois Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee, said: “The next decade must move the models of social innovation decisively from the margins to the mainstream, transforming not only markets but mindsets.”
Award recipients take part in a structured three-year engagement with the Schwab Foundation, after which they join its global network as lifelong members. The program connects social entrepreneurs with international peers, collaborative initiatives, and capacity-building support aimed at strengthening and scaling their work.
