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SME Seminar
db posted on July 29, 2009 22:47
“ADDING VALUE TO DEVELOP SMALL & MEDIUM BUSINESS IN
QATAR” A SEMINAR ORGANISED BY DOHA BANK
Doha Bank organized a knowledge sharing session highlighting the
current trends, growth prospects and the challenges faced by the
Small & Medium Business Enterprises [SMEs] in the State of Qatar
on the 28th July 2008 at Al Fayrouz Ballroom, Marriot Hotel, Doha,
State of Qatar. The knowledge session was attended by
Ambassadors, other dignitaries, Qatar Chamber of Commerce
officials, esteemed customers of Doha Bank, large numbers of small
& medium businessmen, industrialists, analysts, economists, etc.,
from across the State of Qatar.
Mr. R. Seetharaman, Chief Executive Officer, Doha Bank addressed
the gathering as the key note speaker. Speaking on the occasion, Mr.
Seetharaman highlighted the current global crisis, its impact on the
functioning of the global economy, the financial stability of the world
economies, the economic outlook on the world economies in
consideration to the current financial crisis and the policy changes
that are required at a macro-economic level and financial/monetary
level to come out of the current financial crisis.
Mr. Seetharaman further elaborated how GCC and in specific the
State of Qatar, have emerged as a role model for transformation on
economic and social fronts. “State of Qatar has effectively followed
the true principles of globalization that is driving the world economies
through progressive liberalization and modernization under the astute
leadership of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the
Emir of the State of Qatar and His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin
Hamad Al-Thani, Heir Apparent of the State of Qatar” he said. Mr.
Seetharaman further highlighted the socio-economic development
projects such as setting up of Qatar Financial Center, establishment
of world-class educational institutions and investment in large
infrastructure projects. These developments across all the sectors
have created a sound platform for the growth of ancillary small and
medium enterprises (SME) in the coming years. Gauging this
paradigm shift, Doha Bank in its commitment to partner in State of
Qatar’s growth has dedicated a specialized banking product
“Tatweer”, which offers a comprehensive range of products and
services to meet the SME segment’s unique banking and financial
needs. Further, Mr. Seetharaman highlighted the success of SME
model in the world’s biggest economies like USA, Japan etc., and
said “To enable State of Qatar to realize its Vision 2030 the role
played by the SME sector will be a strategic one. This is possible
through progressive collaboration among institutions committed to the
development of SME sector, through stronger Public-Private
Partnership in the coming years”.
Dr. Khalid Al-Hajri, General Manager, Qatar Chamber of Commerce
and also the Guest of Honour for the evening while sharing his
thoughts on SME business, highlighted the growing number of
organizations in the SME sector in the State of Qatar, the positive
factors influencing their growth and the challenges faced by them. Dr.
Khalid also informed the august gathering the commitment of
Government of Qatar by way of their pro-active allocation of QAR 2
billion towards the development of SME sector in the State of Qatar
as pronounced by H.E. The Prime Minister of Qatar. Dedicated
industrial areas are also being set up for the SME sector. In his
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concluding remarks, Dr. Khalid said “Future is for SME sector and
increasing government interest by way of introduction of various
measures, will enable SME sector to play a strategic role in State of
Qatar’s macro-economic performance.” He endorsed the Public-
Private Partnership model for the development of SME sector in the
State of Qatar.
As a part of this knowledge sharing seminar, a panel discussion titled
“SME sector - Challenges & Solutions” was also held. The panel had
Ms. Muna Al-Naimi, Director of Studies & Projects Department, Qatar
Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mr. Kofi Milumbe, Manager
In-charge International Financial Reporting Standards, Grant
Thornton; Ms. Billye Atout, Senior Manager - Enterprise (A) - Small
Enterprises Business Solution Q-Tel and Mr. Kevin Cain, Head
Wholesale Banking Doha Bank as the speakers. The panel session
was moderated by Mr. Seetharaman.
Ms. Muna Al-Naimi in her presentation highlighted the importance of
SME business sector to the overall macro-economic fundamentals,
the growth and prospects of SME business sector in the State of
Qatar and the key role and initiatives undertaken by Qatar Chamber
of Commerce in the development of SME business sector in the State
of Qatar. Ms. Muna also highlighted succinctly the challenges faced
by SME business sector especially in the areas of marketing &
distribution and also suggested solutions to overcome the challenges
in marketing & distribution by way of collaboration with similar
enterprises in the value-chain.
Mr. Kofi Milumbe spoke about the financial challenges faced by SME
business sector on a generic basis and especially in the areas of
quality financial reporting and auditing. He also highlighted various
measures being currently worked by the International Accounting
Standards Board specifically to address the financial challenges
facing SME business.
Ms. Billye Atout in her presentation gave a bird’s eye view of the
Qatar ICT landscape and highlighted the technological challenges
faced by SME business sector especially in the areas of IT resources,
IT knowledge, IT security and IT customer service solutions. Ms.
Billye outlined the technological challenges, the need for
differentiated technological solutions to support the growth of SME
business sector and suggested key decision choices to be made by
respective SME business to overcome these technological
challenges considering the respective nature of business.
Mr. Kevin Cain in his presentation covered the various business
models existing for SME business, the International Finance
Corporation classification of SME business, financial resource
constraints faced by SME business, case-studies on SME banks
across the emerging market region, SME financing in the Middle East
region, SME finance product & service offerings existing, challenges
faced in respect of SME financing and suggested solutions to
overcome the structural challenges.
A brief product presentation was made by the QTel team about their
customized SME offering – “Office in a Box” communication solution.
It covered the core features of the product, the various solutions
offered, the advantages and benefits to the customer and the pricing.
This was followed by an informative audio visual product presentation
of “Tatweer”, highlighting the unique offerings of this product to the
SME sector. It covered the various financial products and services
offered, market positioning and the various add-ons. The presentation
also show cased a few customer feed back on their experience with
Tatweer.
Doha Souq – the “E-Mall solution” – was presented by one of the
customers of Doha Bank. This presentation covered benefits offered
by e-commerce to the SME business segment in reducing their costs
and at the same time providing a wider business development
coverage area through the high-end technological platform.
Dr. Magdi Iskander, an ex-World Banker shared his experiences on
the SME sector from the global perspective. He mentioned that SME
sector accounts for a minimum of 50% of the world’s GDP,
constituting 51% of world’s manufacturing sector by volume and 33%
of the world’s export by volume.
World wide, the SME sector provides employment to 31 million
people in 12.5 million organizations. He emphasized on the future
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focus and growth of SME sector through collaborations between
international funding organizations like World Bank, IFC etc., with
financial institutions like Doha Bank, who are committed to the
development of SME sector. This can be done through stronger and
effective Public-Private Partnerships realizing sustainable benefits for
the overall welfare of the society and its people.
In recognition of Doha Bank’s ever-growing loyal customer base
“Annual Tatweer Award” has been instituted by Doha Bank and the
first annual award ceremony was held at the conclusion of the highly
informative knowledge sessions. Mr. Mohamad Darwish - Seven
Spectrum Company, Mr. Abdul Aziz – Ideal Home, Mr. Kifa El Musa –
Jets Projects Company, Mr. Phani Yerrapragada – Srimalesh NVQ
and Mr. Shahid Malik – Tolico Trading were the first recipients of the
award.
The informative knowledge seminar concluded with vote of thanks
followed by dinner.
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