New growth engine

The Labour Fund (LF) and Bahrain-based Venture Capital Bank has unveiled a new growth engine for small and medium enterprises in the kingdom - a dedicated $15 million "Venture Capital Fund - Bahrain".

The move sees the Labour Fund partnering with Bahrain-based Venture Capital Bank and strategic investors to participate in a Venture Capital Fund, an investment fund to be structured and managed by Venture Capital Bank that will respond to the needs of SMEs in Bahrain who can apply for venture capital injections of between $250,000 and $3 million, depending on the business case, in order to improve their business profitability, growth and expansion.

"The Venture Capital Fund - Bahrain has demonstrated the Labour Fund's keenness to 'walk the talk' as far as supporting SME growth in the Kingdom is concerned," said the Labour Fund's acting chief executive Abdulellah Al Qassimi.

"Experts the world over agree that SMEs are the solid foundation upon which future prosperity can be built. However, in countries like Bahrain, which are diversifying their economic base, the support structure that will assist SMEs to flourish needs to be built from scratch. This is precisely what the Labour Fund is seeking to do with the establishment of the Venture Capital Fund - Bahrain. Having endorsed the private sector as our engine of future growth, we are now putting in place all the building blocks needed to nurture SMEs."

He continued, "The Venture Capital Fund - Bahrain will not just commit funds towards the growth and development of the SMEs but will also contribute their extensive expertise, contacts and advise to help mentor the SMEs. In short, they will be active stakeholders in the future prosperity of the SMEs."

Chief executive officer Abdullatif Mohammed Janahi, stressed that the key beneficiaries of the project will be "fundamentally strong undervalued, finance-seeking small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with market and revenue growth potential".

"It is our belief that by partnering with the Labour Fund in this project, we shall be opening new doors for Bahraini SMEs," he said.

Dr Ahmed Al Jawhary, chief investment officer Venture Capital & Business Developments said: "Venture Capital Bank has designed and structured the fund based on international standards with respect to criteria for investment deployment, performance monitoring and designing systematic growth paths for target companies.

"Upon finalisation of the fund structures and the line up of strategic investors, and obtaining all the necessary approvals from concerned authorities in Bahrain, Venture Capital Bank shall act as the Fund Manager to carry out all operational activities pertinent to the Venture Capital Fund - Bahrain as well as attracting strategic investors to contribute to the fund."