Sharjah Chamber Of Commerce And Industry Finances 110 SMEs

Mohamed Ahmed Amin, deputy general manager of Sharjah Chamber of commerce and industry in United Arab Emirates, said SMEs face many challenges including the financing difficulties and lack of experience and development strategies.

On the sidelines of the small and medium industries Conference convened for the second day under the slogan of “The Arab and International experiences in SMEs”, Amin affirmed on the necessity of setting development plans for SMEs, offering finances and experience and developing their businesses to meet the international standards.

Sharjah Chamber of commerce and industry finances 100 medium enterprises with an average capital of AED 5 million and 10 small enterprises with an average capital of AED 2 million.

Sharjah adopts an incubator project for SMEs by offering large areas for rent with prices starting from AED 800 monthly.

The incubator offers offices for commercial businesses for 18 months, giving the youths opportunities to innovate and establish new businesses.

Badr El-Din Abdel Rehim, head of small enterprises department at Central Bank of Sudan, said the Sudanese banking regulator has established a department for supervising SMEs, contributing in capital, improving the efficiency of these enterprises and offering technical support. This department partnered with World Bank to offer US$ 60 billion for medium enterprises and US$ 20 billion for small enterprises.

Abdel Rehim added that SMEs in Sudan are facing many obstacles; including 40% of banking institutions in Sudan are in Khartoum and they are offering Murabaha (Islamic finance) products. In addition, banks have no studies, strategies or plans.