Manama: Tamkeen’s board of Directors held its first regular meeting of 2015 reviewed audited financial statements, discussed and approved Tamkeen’s 2015 – 2017 strategy and reviewed the progress of the revamped Enterprise Support programme.
“The Board approved Tamkeen’s 2015-2017 strategy and 2015 operational plan. The new strategy, which is partly based on extensive consultations with the public, sums up how we have re-structured our operations and aligned it with our core strategic pillars: enhancing quality, being more customer focused, and achieving better results, to serve the changing needs of the market more effectively,” Tamkeen Chairman and Acting Chief Executive, Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, said.
The board also reviewed progress of the revamped Enterprise Support programme since its re-launch in September 2014. The report showed that the flagship programme has become notably more efficient, transparent, flexible, and measurable as a result of the new features added, including an online portal for customers and service providers to apply and track applications easily and conveniently.
The report on the programme also illustrated that the increased flexibility of the programme has made it more effective in serving enterprises through their various stages – from startups to growth and maturity. Key to this was setting a unified process to provide tailored support solutions for each enterprise, while at the same time linking the support amount with the enterprise’s economic potential and degree of success in achieving its development goals.
The board also nominated Khalid Al-Amin for the position of Vice-Chairman in recognition of the vital role and significant contribution businessmen and the private sector representatives play in supporting Tamkeen’s efforts.
The board also formed the mandated oversight committees, including the Audit Committee, to be headed by Hassan Jarrar with membership from Kadhim Al-Saeed and Mohammed Abdulrahman, and the Governance Committee, to be headed by Mohammed Adel Fakhro with membership from Abdulellah Al-Qassimi and an additional external member.
The Tamkeen board consists of eight members representing the organisations which spearhead the development of the private sector, with three members from the public sector and five from the private sector.
From government Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa and Abdulellah Al-Qassimi; Economic Development Board Dr. Zakaria Hejres, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry Khalid Al-Amin, Mohammed Adel Fakhro, and Kadhim Al Saeed, General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions Mohammed Abdulrahman and the Bahrain Association of Banks Hassan Jarrar.