JEDDAH – Saudi economists warned of allowing other big firms to expand their position in the Saudi economy and demanded to open the door to the small and medium enterprises to diversify and strengthen the capacity of the market economy. This was disclosed during one of the main sessions on Monday held on the sidelines of the Third National Forum and Exhibition for productive families titled “Made in Saudi Arabia” which was inaugurated on Sunday by Makkah Governor Prince Mishal bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. The participated experts stressed the importance of the need to develop the capacity of more than 25000 productive families to spread their business in all cities and regions of the Kingdom, and the session also discussed the best practices and regulatory to manage the activities of productive families. “Creating more opportunities and undertaking initiatives for the future of productive families, would contribute to sustainable national development. We are all producers. We have to take initiatives to help our products and create a made-in-Saudi Arabia market,” said Dr. Andullah Al Shamly, expert in family productive industry. He pointed out that the process of market domination is reflected by the increasing market share of the big companies. Meanwhile, Dr. Hatim bin Qarmoun from the Science and Technology University and specialized in marketing called for the need to find a suitable marketing opportunities for small projects in the Kingdom, implement new strategies to be used for productive families and identifying the common mistakes in marketing. He announced that 90 percent of young entrepreneurs and owners of small firms exit the market after 3years from the start of their business, “ Because of mismanagement and not using the right marketing methods,” he said. On the other hand, Radah Al Assafi, director of family productive program at NCB, noted that NCB will open 20 branches specialized only in offering loans for productive families and will target 22,000 families. In his keynote, Al Assafi said funding and training represent the most important obstacles facing this category, which prompted the National Bank to create a management receptor for Productive Families programs. “These programs working to provide cycle of integrated training, finance and marketing,” he said. The forum also discussed classification and quality control to create competitive products and goods in the local market, management configurations for productive families in provinces and supporting the private sector in incubating productive families. About 800 productive families are participating in this event which is organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Trade and Industry. The event will help emerging small-scale home projects to become a more prominent force in the national economy. The three-day forum also aims to improve the quality of homemade products so that they comply with the regional and international standard specifications. “Made in Saudi Arabia”2014 has been organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in cooperation with XS for the organization of conferences and exhibitions.
