Private-public
protocol supports SMEs

National strategy underway

The Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET) signed a memorandum of understanding with Berytech which aims to support Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Maroun Chammas, Chairman of Berytech said: “The digital economy is searching for parents. The Central Bank’s initiative ‘BDL Accelerate 2014’ was a good approach to unify entrepreneurs, but we will have to allocate additional support for entrepreneurs to help them give more.”

Chammas said that this MoU is a joint collaboration between the private and public sectors, in which they share one business vision. The MoET will provide entrepreneurs with all the needed support, coaching, and training in various fields. “We aim to collaborate with many ministries, especially the Ministry of Telecommunications, whose support is fundamental in the economy of knowledge.”

MoET will launch a national strategy in this direction, on December 16. The new strategy, called ‘Lebanon SMEs Strategy, Roadmap to 2020’, is part of a national development plan.

Zeina El Khoury, Head of the Enterprise Team a UNDP project at the MoET said that this strategy was developed during the past few months. It identifies a clear set of tactical objectives that aim to grow SMEs, enhancing their sustainability and improving innovation and competitiveness.

Achieving these objectives rests upon facilitating the right funding, providing a support framework, improving access to markets and enhancing access to foreign markets. El Khoury said that around 40 initiatives were identified. These were prioritized into three implementation waves that will take place until 2020, depending on their impact and implementation.