• Salah Abdullah Al-attar - Editor-in-Chief

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How does Saudi Arabia plan to turn SMEs into a major driver of the non-oil economy?..

As Saudi Arabia continues to make significant progress on its Vision 2030 pathways, the SME sector is emerging as a focal point that needs a strong strategic boost. The development of this sector, which is the broad base of the non-oil economic pyramid, has become a top priority for the next phase.

His Excellency Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment, made remarks during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII 9) conference, reveal a clear and intensive plan to inject finance, innovation and knowledge transfer to transform small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from a broad economic base to an indispensable key engine for the Saudi non-oil economy, by raising their contribution to 35% of GDP by 2030.Funding and innovation. Growth Drivers in the Next Phase:


Al-Falih explained that the biggest challenge in the SME sector lies not only in the lack of capital, but also in directing it towards innovation and institutional expansion, pointing out that capital is available, but what we need are ideas.

H.E. pointed out that family capitals, private investment funds, and venture capital are effective tools to bridge the financing gap and enable SMEs to expand in the fields of technology, services and industry.

Data from the Vision 2030 report for 2024 indicates that the private sector's contribution reached 47% of GDP, of which about 22% was for small and medium enterprises, while the number of employees increased to 7.8 million from 4.7 million at the launch of the vision. However, the proportion of loans directed to these enterprises out of total bank loans remains below the 10% target, highlighting the need for more flexible and diversified financing models.

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