Start-up programme Badir contributes SAR 2.1bn to Saudi economy

Riyadh Mubasher: The Badir Program for Technology Incubators and Accelerators has contributed around SAR 2.1 billion ($560 million) to the Saudi economy on a cumulative basis between 2010 until the end of 2018, Badir CEO revealed on Sunday, citing data.

The programme witnessed total revenues of around SAR 620 million, achieved though incubated and graduated technical companies, the data, produced by the Economic Impact Assessment Report conducted by the Australian company CREEDA Projects, said.

CREEDA Projects, which specialises in the establishment and management of technical incubators globally, also said that the Badir programmes contribution to the Saudi kingdoms economy amounted to around SAR 664 million in the past three years, registering a rise of 56% compared to the Economic Impact Assessment Report released in 2015.

In its report, CREEDA said adopted two specific methodologies in order to assess the Badir Programs economic impact and its contribution to the Saudi economy.

The first methodology took into account the contribution to the [gross domestic product (GDP)] on the basis of the total expenditures of the incubated and graduated technical companies; the second one measures the contribution of these companies to the GDP on the basis of their annual revenues, Badir said.

The Badir Program witnessed remarkable growth in terms of performance and number of jobs created by the incubated and graduated companies, Nawwaf noted, citing the report and forecasting further contribution by these companies to Saudi Arabias GDP in the coming years.

Badir Progamme developments and progress announcements were made at the GITEX Technology Week 2018 in Dubai.