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 <strong>Nov</strong>ember-<strong>Dec</strong>ember <strong>2017</strong>
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