Bahrain : Tamkeen’s annual 2022 Consultation Forum was held virtually today, under the chairmanship of Husain Mohammed Rajab, the Chief Executive of Labour Fund (Tamkeen).
Rajab stressed the importance of Tamkeen’s strategic approach, which comes as a response to the current economic reality and the rapidly changing global economic climate. This new approach is underpinned by Tamkeen’s commitment to achieving tangible impact and driving sustainable growth in the national economy, ensuring that Bahrainis are the employees of choice in the labour market.
He also highlighted the importance of Tamkeen’s strategic partnerships with various market segments and groups of individuals and enterprises, and their valuable role in contributing to Tamkeen’s achievements over the past 15 years, ensuring the continuity of the development process and improving the services, programmes, and initiatives that Tamkeen provides.
He stressed the value of the ongoing communication with the private sector, given its role as a critical partner in the consultation process. In that regard, Tamkeen hosted a series of consultation meetings held in the lead up to the Forum with several of its partners in the private sector. The feedback shared by representatives of various industries helped Tamkeen ensure that the programmes and initiatives it develops address key challenges or opportunities highlighted.
“We are working to provide a model that achieves sustainable economic growth and contributes to building comprehensive development driven by innovative and technological solutions that cater to the requirements of the current market” he said.
This year’s annual consultation forum was held virtually to ensure effective and direct communication with partners and customers. Tamkeen presented some of its key highlights from its activities over the past few years, as well as showcased its strategic direction, which includes a high-level of integration with various parts of the economy and the Economic Recovery Plan. Tamkeen aims to drive economic growth through attracting direct investment, facilitating job creation, diversifying income streams, encouraging productivity and developing the local workforce, while also considering local and global market needs.
He also stressed that Tamkeen’s current strategy was developed with the objective of creating strong impact in the local market. The strategy focuses on high-potential sectors that contribute to sustainable economic growth, the creation of high-quality jobs, and the introduction of new income sources. Tamkeen will continue to support both enterprises and individuals, encouraging their growth and adaptability, along with fostering an innovative mindset thus ensuring continuity and contribution to the national economy.
Accordingly, a series of new programmes and initiatives designed to deliver this impact have been announced. These programmes will also help develop the growth of the high-potential sectors, increasing diversification and the GDP. They will be introduced gradually over the upcoming period, with the first fifteen programmes announced during the Forum.
He underlined the need to develop high potential sectors through the proposed support programmes due to their active role in creating tangible economic opportunities and their ability to support small and medium enterprises.
The fifteen programmes announced are an enhancement of Tamkeen’s offering, adopting a new incentive-based approach that encourages enterprises to grow and expand by motivating them to achieve the best possible results. These programmes will allow enterprises to also play a key role in furthering digital transformation by adopting new technologies to improve productivity, flexibility, and increase profits, while also presenting opportunities for creativity and innovation in the face of challenges within the local market.
Tamkeen will also continue to incentivize individuals and enterprises that demonstrate the potential to grow, learn new skills, adopt technology, and achieve the high impact results, to become competitive both locally and globally – ensuring they remain the employee of choice in the labour market.
Tamkeen also unveiled its new brand identity which complements the transformational phase the organisation is undergoing. The new identity represents the importance of change, a principle that will be reflected in all internal practices and initiatives and is symbolised through a new logo.
The attendees also had the opportunity to share their opinions and suggestions during the in-depth introductory sessions held after the main presentation. These sessions were conducted in parallel and hosted by Tamkeen sector representatives, bringing them together with entrepreneurs and private sector representatives to discuss the challenges present in today’s market and how to address them, in addition to presenting Tamkeen’s new programmes and the ways enterprises and individuals can benefit from them through the improved customer journey.
The forum concluded by addressing the most prominent recommendations which re-emphasised the need for a rapid response to ongoing market changes to enable the growth of private sector enterprises and the development of the national workforce.
