Thamer Al-Farshouti, CEO of Business Clinics, pointed out that the new partnership aims to strengthen practical cooperation between the two organizations to achieve community development, in addition to exchanging expertise between them for the sake of developing micro-enterprises and small and medium enterprises. “The agreement will provide women entrepreneurs with the consulting services necessary to continue their careers and help them enhancing their services and efficiency in a way that increases the contribution of the small and medium enterprises sector to the national economic growth. It also aims to supporting emerging enterprises to overcome the challenges they face, and to achieve growth in the local, regional and even international markets,” he said.

On her part, Ms. May Taibah, Senior General Manager of the Nafisa Shams Academy for Arts and Crafts, said: “Since its establishment, the Academy has been committed to empower Saudi women and help them achieving their economic independence. Today, we affirm our commitment to expand this support to new areas such as business incubators that seek to attract entities with outstanding expertise in the field of entrepreneurship to establish effective strategic partnerships, as we believe in the necessity of partnerships to serve entrepreneurs in the best way possible. Those partnerships also serve as a supportive umbrella to entrepreneurs by providing them with the necessary technical, administrative and financial consultations.”

Nafisa Shams Academy for Arts and Crafts – an initiative of Community Jameel – was established in 2006, as a pioneering step towards improving training and artistic and craft production in the Saudi Arabia. The academy aims to provide Saudi girls and women, at all levels of education, with a profession or a craft they can practice in the local community, with an ultimate goal to creating a productive society and expanding the horizons of creative work.