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25 January 2017
By Sanaullah Ataullah
Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has launched a unique scheme for financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with amounts up to QR1m and sharing their profit and loss as a partner.
So far, QDB had been providing funds and supporting entrepreneurs to establish businesses without having partnership with them.
The scheme named Ithmar is a unique financing programme being implemented first time in Qatar, Qatar News Agency reported yesterday. It will encourage entrepreneurs to start their projects in a bid to increase the power and efficiency of private sector. It will help several innovative ideas to be turned into reality in a bid to diversify the national economy.
The new scheme will allow QDB to become a partner from financier, Abdul Aziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of QDB was quoted as saying. The entrepreneurs will keep benefiting from the support of the bank and the guidance of its officials, he added.
Ithmar will be flexible by large in dealing with entrepreneurs by cutting short the routine procedures of financing. They will see great flexibility in the way of funding as per their need for the projects.
The new scheme is meant to attract entrepreneurs who have ideas and want to convert them into projects. The bank will work with the entrepreneurs hand in hand from the launch of the project to help them make success. Ithmar scheme is a complementary program of several previous initiatives launched by QDB.
The bank keeps updating its programmes to provide full-fledged support to entrepreneurs and the businessmen with innovative ideas, said Al Khalifa.
QBD will provide funds upto QR1m based on ideas floated by entrepreneurs and cost of startups, said Mohamad Al Khatir, Head of Investment Department at QDB. The bank has asked entrepreneurs to mobilise 10 percent of amount required to finance the project in a bid to ensure their serious involvement, he added.
“The new scheme aims at removing hindrances facing the entrepreneurs. This is the first programme in Qatar that provides funds for merely floating an innovated idea as the percentage of risk for bank in such cases is very high,” said Al Khatir.
The bank will follow up entrepreneurs and their companies for two years and afterward, follow up time will be extended as per need. The funds could be converted into shares in name of the bank in beneficiary company after assessing the market value of the company, said Al Khatir.
QDB will target 25 projects in the first year, said Ibrahim Hasan, Head of direct loan disbursal department at QDB. The scheme aims only to support entrepreneurs at the beginning of startups. Young entrepreneurs are expected to be attracted to this scheme more than any other program, he added.
By Sanaullah Ataullah
Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has launched a unique scheme for financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with amounts up to QR1m and sharing their profit and loss as a partner.
So far, QDB had been providing funds and supporting entrepreneurs to establish businesses without having partnership with them.
The scheme named Ithmar is a unique financing programme being implemented first time in Qatar, Qatar News Agency reported yesterday. It will encourage entrepreneurs to start their projects in a bid to increase the power and efficiency of private sector. It will help several innovative ideas to be turned into reality in a bid to diversify the national economy.
The new scheme will allow QDB to become a partner from financier, Abdul Aziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of QDB was quoted as saying. The entrepreneurs will keep benefiting from the support of the bank and the guidance of its officials, he added.
Ithmar will be flexible by large in dealing with entrepreneurs by cutting short the routine procedures of financing. They will see great flexibility in the way of funding as per their need for the projects.
The new scheme is meant to attract entrepreneurs who have ideas and want to convert them into projects. The bank will work with the entrepreneurs hand in hand from the launch of the project to help them make success. Ithmar scheme is a complementary program of several previous initiatives launched by QDB.
The bank keeps updating its programmes to provide full-fledged support to entrepreneurs and the businessmen with innovative ideas, said Al Khalifa.
QBD will provide funds upto QR1m based on ideas floated by entrepreneurs and cost of startups, said Mohamad Al Khatir, Head of Investment Department at QDB. The bank has asked entrepreneurs to mobilise 10 percent of amount required to finance the project in a bid to ensure their serious involvement, he added.
“The new scheme aims at removing hindrances facing the entrepreneurs. This is the first programme in Qatar that provides funds for merely floating an innovated idea as the percentage of risk for bank in such cases is very high,” said Al Khatir.
The bank will follow up entrepreneurs and their companies for two years and afterward, follow up time will be extended as per need. The funds could be converted into shares in name of the bank in beneficiary company after assessing the market value of the company, said Al Khatir.
QDB will target 25 projects in the first year, said Ibrahim Hasan, Head of direct loan disbursal department at QDB. The scheme aims only to support entrepreneurs at the beginning of startups. Young entrepreneurs are expected to be attracted to this scheme more than any other program, he added.
© The Peninsula 2017
