The flagship programme is part of Tamkeen’s drive to deliver accessible business support services to private sector enterprises in order to support their productivity and growth. The programme enables businesses to acquire subsidised professional services in the areas of marketing, business development, and quality management, in addition to subsidies to purchase equipment and participate in trade fairs and exhibitions.
The “Jawda” programme enables enterprises to implement world-class quality management systems to improve products and services offered, giving organisations a significant competitive advantage in domestic and foreign markets.
“Earning such world-wide accredited certification will put local businesses on the map. Tamkeen sees the improvement of managerial standards is critical in bringing local products to challenge global standards and I believe the achievement today is proof of this,” Tamkeen’s Private Sector Support Senior Manager Mohammed Bucheery, said.
Bright Beginnings, a specialist daycare and child development centre that provides professional child care services, became the first institute of its kind – and second in the GCC – to acquired the Quality Mark for Early Year Accreditation. The certification specifically caters to ensuring the implementation of high standards for early years of child development in areas such as literacy, language and mathematics.
Bright beginnings started working with Tamkeen in 2009 through a variety of supporting schemes.
“This is a landmark achievement for us. None of this would have been possible without the hard work and effort put in by the team at Bright Beginnings and Tamkeen’s invaluable support,” Director of Bright beginnings centre Anisa Saad, said.
Golden Trust, which operates two separate institutions for human resource development and professional business consultancy, earned the 9001:2008 ISO Quality Management System Certifications from the International Organisation for Standardisation, the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standard. The certification is awarded to organisations that provide a product that consistently meets customer statutory and regulatory requirements.
“The ISO 9001:2008 certification with the support of the Jawda Programme has improved our value-added system and positioned the institute as one of the top internationally-recognized organisations of its kind,” Director of Golden Trust Dr. Lulwa Al Mutlaq, said.
The Jawda programme has benefited over 30 private sector enterprises to date. Like other Enterprise Development Support programmes, any Bahrain-based company with an active commercial registration, meets the LMRA Bahrainisation Quota in addition to having an active accounting system, bank account and utility bill.
The Enterprise Development Support programme and its schemes is one of 28 initiatives launched by Tamkeen which are dedicated to offering private sector enterprises with to expand, internationalise, and improve productivity and innovation. Nearly 5,000 enterprises have benefited from these programmes to date.
Tamkeen has allocated about BD107 million for its projects in 2012. These include 20 new initiatives this year. More than 22,000 people are expected to benefit from Tamkeen’s various support programmes this year alone.