RIYADH:聽The entrepreneurship arm of Saudi Aramco, 奥补鈥檈诲, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY) to support the creation of new startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 黑料社区鈥檚 two largest industrial cities.
The MoU was signed by 奥补鈥檈诲 managing director, Wassim Basrawi, and RCJY general manager, Dr. Ahmed Zaid Al-Hussain, at a virtual ceremony.
The agreement with the RCJY, which oversees the industrial cities of Jubail and Ras Al-Khair on the Gulf, and Yanbu and Jazan on the Red Sea, is part of 奥补鈥檈诲鈥檚 ongoing efforts to support the Kingdom鈥檚 SMEs, especially those in the energy and petrochemicals sectors.
The new collaboration calls for 奥补鈥檈诲 to support entrepreneurship ventures opening within Royal Commission industrial cities for potential non-collateralized, low-cost loans from 奥补鈥檈诲.
The announcement by 奥补鈥檈诲 was the latest in a wave of collaborations intended to raise the pace and quality of SME creation in the Kingdom and speed the nation鈥檚 economic diversification.
In November, 奥补鈥檈诲 formed a partnership with Oqal, an angel investor network in 黑料社区 and Bahrain. That was followed in December by an alliance with the economic development agency of Madinah. Last week, 奥补鈥檈诲 signed an MoU with Taibah Valley Co., a startup hub in Madinah that specializes in blockchain, internet of things, and artificial intelligence.
Basrawi said: 鈥淭his new collaboration aims to boost the pace and quality of Saudi鈥檚 newest industrial players and it potentially gives 奥补鈥檈诲 an exciting new role as a key enabler of mission-critical industrial startups.鈥
Al-Hussain said: 鈥淲e are grateful for this collaboration with 奥补鈥檈诲, which will support our drive to expand Royal Commission industrial cities to include the latest innovative SMEs that are helping modernize and localize the nation鈥檚 industrial sector value chain.鈥
The Royal Commission was set up in 1975 by King Khalid to diversify the Saudi economy by harnessing natural gas from oil extraction to create Saudi鈥檚 petrochemicals industry.
奥补鈥檈诲 in January reported that it had tripled the amount of money loaned to startups in the Kingdom in 2020. The Dhahran-based initiative gave out 12 loans to SMEs, up from four in 2019, with the total value surging to SR31 million ($8.27 million), up from SR10 million in 2019.
鈥淚n a very challenging year, I am proud of the 奥补鈥檈诲 family, which includes my team and our resilient entrepreneurs, for rising to the challenges and keeping us on track to deliver an even greater impact in 2021,鈥 Basrawi said.
