BizBahrain Magazine Nov-Dec 2017

News Highlights
Tamkeen relaunch
“Mohasaba” Scheme to
support Bahraini enterprises
Tamkeen recently relaunched the
“Mohasaba” scheme as a business
development support programme in
accounting and auditing services for startups,
scale up and mature enterprises.
Chief Executive Dr. Ebrahim M. Janahi
stressed the importance of continuously
improving this scheme in line with the
latest market updates, as a way to ensure
the implementation of an effective support
programme that meets the accurate
needs of business activities towards
sustainability that ultimately contributes
to the growth of national economy.
Dr. Janahi explained that “Mohasaba”
was first launched in 2009, with a strategic
aim of supporting Bahraini enterprises’
productivity by enabling them of the
competitive management of their financial
goals.
He added that emphasising the role of
the private sector in promoting economic
growth requires consistent commitment
towards closely meeting the specific
needs of market expansions, and paying
diligent attention towards implementing
this vision in all the support programmes
ASB and AFS sign First
Digital Payroll Program
AFS, the region’s leading FinTech
enabler, and payment services
provider, and Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, one
of the pioneering Shari’a-compliant banks
in the Kingdom, signed an MOU to roll out
a Digital Payroll Program benefiting both
the employers and employees in Bahrain.
Mr. Anwar Murad, Deputy Group CEO
of Banking at Al Salam Bank-Bahrain said
at the signing ceremony, “The program
has been specifically designed to facilitate
a large number of employers with a more
convenient, automated and secured
payment solution to credit employee
Dr. Ebrahim M. Janahi
Chief Executive, Tamkeen Bahrain
offered by Tamkeen, is a key step that
leads to this national objective.
As part of new the scheme, enterprises
will be given the freedom to choose their
accounting and auditing services from
any local audit firm, maximizing the value
of this support on the performance level of
their businesses.
Pre-start-up and Start-up enterprises
with 0-2 years of operation can benefit
from the accounting and auditing services
at 100% support rate, while start-ups with
2-4 years will have access to 50% support
percentage in both accounting and
auditing services. Scale-up and mature
companies can get a 50% support rate in
auditing services.
This co-financing support programme
covers the cost of accounting and auditing
services for a duration of two years.
salaries directly in their prepaid accounts.
Employees will also enjoy the benefits of
withdrawing cash from ATMs in Bahrain
or abroad, point-of-sale (POS) purchases at
retail outlets, online shopping purchases
and outward remittance.”
B Chandrasekhar, CEO of AFS
added, “Our Partnership with Al Salam
Bank is a great opportunity to provide a
cost-efficient and secure digital payroll
program. It also has the added unique
feature to send remittances. This is
another step on Bahrain’s path towards a
cashless society and financial inclusion.”
He added, “For the employer,
the payroll program simplifies and
streamlines the payroll calculation,
administration and disbursement, making
it easier, faster and more accurate. It is a
state-of-the art system that will help in
reducing operational and administrative
overhead, including security costs, and
those associated with avoiding fraud, bank
fees and transportation. It provides easy
employee onboarding with 24/7 customer
care, and interactive dashboards."
Largest regional FinTech
hub in Bahrain
The Bahrain Economic Development
Board (EDB) and FinTech
Consortium (FTC) have launched
“Bahrain FinTech Bay” (BFB), the
largest dedicated FinTech hub in the
Middle East and Africa. The new hub
aims to further the development and
acceleration of Fintech firms as well
as the interaction between investors,
entrepreneurs, government bodies and
financial institutions.
BFB, with an area of over 10,000
square feet of usable space, is located
in the Arcapita building. Scheduled to
open in February 2018, it will comprise
state of the art facilities, co-working
spaces, communal areas, workstations,
hot desks, and a variety of other shared
infrastructure, making it the ideal hub
for local and international corporate
innovation labs and FinTech start-ups
to base themselves in.
FTC through its subsidiary
FinTech Consortium Bahrain, has
been appointed as the operator
and ecosystem builder of Bahrain
FinTech Bay. FTC will apply physical
and digital solutions to manage the
hub, as well as integrate BFB into
its numerous FinTech platforms,
including blockchain, insurance
technology, regulatory technology
(RegTech), and others. BFB will open,
ready for business, as part of FTC’s
global network of locations - New York,
Singapore, and now Bahrain - and work
closely with its counterparts to promote
collaboration and shared innovation.
BFB is being founded together with
a number of regional and international
founding partners, strong support and
partnership with the Central Bank of
Bahrain, other government entities, and
financial institutions.
86 November-December 2017