KING Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center (SAEC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding by which KAEC will provide logistical support and services for entrepreneurs supported by SAEC. KAEC aspires to be the city of choice for start-ups and growing businesses, sourcing the best talents, and attracting the top entrepreneurial jobs and opportunities in the region. This is coupled with a complete setup to support new and growing businesses by offering state-of-the-art, plug-and-play offices, comprehensive list of shared business services, and an unparalleled network of partners and customers to help businesses get access to market. The MoU was signed by Fahd Al-Rasheed, Group CEO and managing director of KAEC, and Sami Al-Khursani, managing director of SAEC, at a ceremony held in KAEC's award-winning Bay La Sun Hotel and Marina. Al-Rasheed said: “The signing of this MoU marks the start of KAEC's and SAEC's drive to encourage more Saudi entrepreneurs to get their beginning in the business world by showing them that at KAEC they have access to two primary ingredients for a successful enterprise — location and funding.” He added: “Small and medium business enterprises — SMEs — are the backbone of a diversified economy and at KAEC we provide every facility and on the ground support for Saudis to establish their entrepreneurial ventures in the Industrial Valley. KAEC is fully committed to helping entrepreneurs and in addition we can give them business openings and access to a wide customer base.” Speaking on behalf of SAEC, Al-Khursani said: “We are very pleased that King Abdullah Economic City is supporting Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center and we are confident that our cooperation will result in many new business enterprises establishing their operations at KAEC. This will give budding Saudi entrepreneurs the opportunity to contribute to the Kingdom's economic prosperity.” Also at the ceremony, an office space leasing agreement was signed by Mr. Ahmed Linjawy, Deputy CEO of KAEC and Khalid Al-Holan, CEO of Dusfan Enterprise. Both parties signed an IT support contract between The World Academy (TWA), the leading educational establishment in KAEC. In addition, at the ceremony, an industrial Incubator leasing agreement was signed by Rayan Qutub, CEO of the Industrial Valley in KAEC, and Mamdouh Mohammed Khudary, GM of Lighting Paper Factory, leasing three Industrial Incubators to start manufacturing LED paper, in the Industrial Valley the new manufacturing and logistics hub. Al-Rasheed commented on the signed agreements: “The state of the art infrastructure, comprehensive services and unrivalled transportation facilities at the Industrial Valley provide all the ingredients for entrepreneurial enterprises to succeed and become a key contributor to the Kingdom's economic development.” He added: “The number of signings at the ceremony indicates just how far King Abdullah Economic City has come in achieving its aim to become a power house driving Saudi Arabia's industrial diversification by supporting Saudi Entrepreneurs”. — SG
