Doha, Qatar, April 17, 2018:   Envisioning to empower Qatari SMEs to harness growth, Qatar Development Bank (QDB) announced the launch of the first of its kind 'SME Toolkit: Policies and Procedures Guidelines for SMEs owners' during a press conference held on Sunday, April 15 at the four Seasons hotel. The press conference was attended by Mr. Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Development Bank, and Mrs. Farah Al-Kuwari, Statistics & Research Manager at the Bank, as well as media representatives.

The launch of the SME Toolkit is part of QDB’s continued commitment to strengthen the SME sector in Qatar, through holistic solutions that provide access to more than just financial services. The SME Toolkit, which is available on QDB website, offers entrepreneurs and SMEs all the relevant information on the governmental procedures and requirements during all stages of the business lifecycle, be it the planning or the execution stage or operational and expansion of the project such as the procedures for recruitment and export.

This Toolkit is the first of its kind because the SME community in Qatar and for the for the first time can use a single source to access and browse an online tool to find the relevant procedures and entities that they need to deal with to take their business forward. The tool takes the users through all the business phases, explaining the business documents needed and the relevant fees if any and the procedures they need to follow. 

The launch of the dedicated Toolkit follows QDB’s extensive interaction with the local SME’s during the last “Al Majlis for Entrepreneurs” forum, to understand the challenges and difficulties entrepreneurs come across during the various phases of their businesses.

Based on the feedback from entrepreneurs and SMEs in 2017, QDB developed the content of this guide, through a specialized legal office, with a coordinated effort with a number of governmental bodies and relevant ministries, as well as information obtained from other websites. The tool kit has been designed to guide entrepreneurs and SMEs to the procedures and policies to be adopted at different stages of development of a project, through a single source.

On this occasion, Abdul Aziz Bin Nasser Al Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Development Bank, said:
“QDB is committed to serve the nation’s local business community, the SME ecosystem and the economic sustainability. The role of QDB is not only to support and train entrepreneurs to transform ideas into projects, but also to finance their projects, support their growth and expansion, and help them reach local as well as global markets. By providing SMEs with access to vital information, we are optimistic that the SME Toolkit will help empower the local entrepreneurial community.' 

Each ministry has its own procedures on their own platforms, but to make it easier for SMEs, QDB collected all the information and procedures in one online platform, which is the bank’s website. 

Before publishing the comprehensive online details, QDB has verified all the information with the relevant Ministries such as Ministry of Economy & Commerce, Ministry of Education, The Ministry of Culture and Sports, The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor & Social Affairs, Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning (MMUP), General Authority of Customs, Qatar Chamber, and other ministries and organizations concerned with these procedures to present an utmost accurate data to its online users.

Following the press conference, QDB kicked off the 4th “Al Majlis for Entrepreneurs” forum to discuss the latest challenges facing entrepreneurs in Qatar, and the main topic of the forum  was to shed lights on how to access information from its right sources, and what services QDB is offering to overcome this challenge.