(MENAFN - Arab News) Labor Minister Adel Fakeih said his ministry has prepared 36 business initiatives in retail sector for young entrepreneurs that are aimed to create an attractive work environment and streamline financing mechanisms for them.
The minister was addressing a workshop on investment opportunities in retail sector for young entrepreneurs, which was organized by Young Entrepreneurs Committee at Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).
The minister stressed the importance of building an environment conducive to the growth of small-scale enterprises through support of projects initiated by young entrepreneurs who will run these projects on fulltime basis.
The initiatives are meant to curb commercial coverage and render support to business owners who run their projects directly, he said.
The ministry is poised to transfer all services and procedures related to labor offices into full electronic-based services so as to save time of project owners, and further plans to open three branch offices soon to alleviate burdens on the existing offices, he added.
The Ministry of Labor has presented to the Ministry of Finance initiatives for facilitating loans for owners of small-scale projects and, accordingly, a team has been formed to look into these initiatives, he said.
On the newly approved recruitment offices, the minister said the license for the establishment of the first recruitment company in Riyadh was signed last Monday. It has 26 offices and ready to work immediately, but more licenses will be issued in the next few months.
On the outcome of feminization of the stores of women's requirements, the minister said the decision led to localization of jobs for Saudi women in more than 7,000 stores.
In response to a question on the possibility of setting up specialized women malls and centers, the minister said the issue comes within the responsibly of private sector.
The minister later listened to a series of initiatives presented by young businessmen. One of them presented his experience on a restaurant called Burgeries and the challenges faced, and affirmed that the restaurant sector provides good opportunity for young entrepreneurs. The volume of restaurant market is estimated at SR23 billion in the Kingdom, he said.
Similarly, other experiences were presented such as pastry and chocolate industry whose market is estimated at SR500 million, in addition to electronics retail sector whose market has been estimated at SR160 billion where 70 percent of the whole sector is dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the remaining 30 percent by bigger companies.
The volume of retail sector is growing at 9.4 percent annually, and is predicted to hit SR276 billion in 2014.
Meanwhile, a woman investor briefed on retail sector of clothes, and predicted that its market will reach SR6 billion in 2015. She termed investment in this sector as profitable with low risks.
Another speaker touched on retail sector of perfumes and cosmetics and said the volume of consumption in the Kingdom and the GCC has been estimated at SR15 billion annually.
RCCI Board Chairman Abdulrahman Al-Jeraisi expressed hope that the workshop would help the young businessmen establish projects in retail business sector and broaden the base of young investors.
