(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNB, in partnership with the Qatar Development Bank (QDB), has helped launch something between 72 to 100 startups during the first half of 2013. The numbers are expected to go up during this year, a top QNB executive told The Peninsula.
Speaking on the sidelines of "QNB Small and Medium Enterprises Open Day" here yesterday, Wisam Matouk, Acting Head of Sales & Relationship Management-SME, said: young entrepreneurs are increasingly looking for ventures in various sectors, including manufacturing, health sector, contracting and food processing . Of late, there has been a huge rise in the number of enquiries, he said.
Wisam said funding is not a problem for the potential entrepreneurs. "We, together with the QDB, offer all sorts of supports to the startups. QNB is one of the main supporters of QDB," he said.
The opening day of QNB's "SMEs Open Day" saw good response from young entrepreneurs. The bank's premium partners attended the event included QDB, Enterprise Qatar (EQ), Bedaya, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, Qatar Chamber, the Ministry of Energy and Industry and many other partners such as Qatar Building Company (QBC), Mannai Trading and Qatar Insurance Company (QIC).
The Ministry of Energy and Industry booth explained in detail the critical role being played by the Ministry's Department of Industrial Estates (DIE) in planning, developing and managing the country's first Small and Medium Scale Industrial Area (SMSIA) in Doha.
The Industries allowed in SMSIA include manufacture of food, beverages, textile, weaving apparel and leather industries, manufacture of wooden products and paper products, manufacture of chemicals, rubber and plastics. Basic metal industries, manufacture of non-metallic products, machinery and equipment are among industries operating in the SMSIA.
In support of the SME segment, QNB recently signed a financing deal with Al Naqeeb Plastic Factory and QDB for a new factory that will be located in the industrial area in Doha.
QNB has already in tie-up with QDB to support the latter's Al Dhameen programme, which is based on covering a portion of the risk of the funding in case the guaranteed project has failed in repaying the whole amount or part of it.
The programme encourages banks to finance SMEs that show components of success and
cannot provide the required collaterals or accounting documents that prove their eligibility to receive finance.
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