Labour Fund Bids to Spur Efficiency
06 Nov 2007MANAMA: The Labour Fund has streamlined its Enterprise Development Support programme (EDS) by appointing a central agency to manage the day-to-day operations. The move will also provide a more efficient service to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
"Based on a tendering process that saw six respondents, the fund has selected the firm of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Company International to manage the day-to-day operations of the EDS programme," said Labour Fund acting chief executive Abdulellah Al Qassimi.
"The decision to outsource the EDS programme stemmed from the tremendous positive response generated from the SMEs.
"Since we did not want to create any red tape barriers or delays, we felt the best way forward would be to select an outside agency to manage the project under the fund's supervision."
The EDS is a co-finance programme containing several schemes whereby the fund finances certain percentage of the SMEs' requirements.
The scheme gives SMEs unprecedented access to new business methodologies, modernization and ways to improve specific areas of the business to increase productivity through training, equipment upgrades, consultancy studies and implementation.
As the newly-appointed enterprise development support agency, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh will handle the day-to-day operations of the scheme, starting from receiving applications to processing payment and follow-up. The fund will monitor the EDSA and receive periodical reports.
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