Saudi Arabia’s Small and Medium Enterprises Loan Guarantee Program (Kafalah) has claimed two platinum awards at the Global SME Finance Forum, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Kafalah has earned the Product Innovation of the Year Award for the MENA region and the Product Innovation of the Year DFI, IFI, Guarantee Agency Award on the global scale.
Innovation Awards
The Product Innovation of the Year Award recognizes Kafalah’s efforts to transform the process of guarantee issuance and the automation of procedures with financial institutions. By using an automatic evaluation for the applicant’s data, the Saudi Program has managed to cut guarantee issuance period from 45 days in 2017 to 8 hours.
Moreover, Kafalah cooperates with many entities to automatically collect the necessary data. The applicant can now issue the guarantee with a direct electronic signature, as digital systems have replaced manual applications.
Harnessing Technology
Meanwhile, the Product Innovation of the Year DFI, IFI, Guarantee Agency Award recognizes the technology initiative, implemented in collaboration with the National Technology Development Program (NTDP), to promote the technology sector in Saudi Arabia.
In partnership with the NTDP, Kafalah has addressed the challenges faced by financial institutions through providing over SAR 1.7bn in guaranteed funding. The Program’s use of Saudi Tech Platform’s licenses has streamlined issuance processes, enabling entities in this sector to easily and automatically access financing guarantees through the program’s financial partners.
Global Recognition
On this occasion, the CEO of Kafalah, Homam Hashem, took pride in being recognized by the Global SME Finance Forum. He said that these awards are the result of Kafalah’s support for SMEs, as the Program has provided over SAR 1bn in loan guarantees to more than 23,000 SMEs.
Similarly, the CEO of the NTDP, Ibrahim Neyaz, explained that the partnership with Kafalah to provide financial support to the technology sector in the Kingdom has funded more than 180 tech companies, with over SAR 1.7bn. Furthermore, the growth rate saw a 65% increase over the last three years.
This global recognition is a further testament to the major transformation in Saudi Arabia across all sectors, and the tireless efforts towards achieving the objectives of Vision 2030, boosting the Kingdom’s position in the UN’s E-Government Development Index.
