JEDDAH — The three-day Fifth National Productive Family Forum and Exhibition kicked off at Jeddah Hilton on Monday evening. On behalf of Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Jeddah Governor Prince Mishal Bin Majed inaugurated the exhibition organized by specialized XS company for Conferences and Exhibitions in cooperation with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). The exhibition's theme is "development partnerships and start-up companies". Several productive families are participating in the exhibition and displaying their products including textiles and a variety of industrial products, including decoration items, clothes, bed sheets, jewelry, perfumes, foods and sweets. Mazen Batterjee, JCCI vice president, seemed overwhelmed with the general response the exhibition has generated. He expects to see a number of initiatives this time around as the launch of the first website having commodities from productive families. He said 16 workshops and a training course will be organized to help productive families market their merchandise more professionally. Batterjee stressed that there should be some quick process to support productive families that represent an important segment of society. "This exhibition is to support and assist productive families, but it is important that this support goes practically to the beneficiaries. The matter does not depend on finding ways to finance small and medium-sized enterprises; it is important to develop traditional markets for them to market their products, especially since there is a general realization that proper marketing is the main obstacle for the vast majority of them," he said. Ahmed Hamdan, head of the National Forum and Exhibition for Productive Families said: "The fifth edition carries a clear message to the development of cadres of productive families and the integration of their contribution to the national economy under the integrated institutional system. We are working on that". Hamdan said the the forum's objective was to drive deep the economic concept of activities of productive families and make it a significant contributor to the national economy besides offering them technical, marketing, financial and administrative training. It also aimed to improve the quality of home-made products so that they comply with the regional and international standard specifications, he said. The forum will also strive to launch temporary direct sales windows at large shopping centers, commercial exhibitions and public gatherings such as hotels, women's colleges and residential complexes in addition to encouraging e-marketing for their products. "Overall we will help increase the income of productive families," said Hamdan.
