The head of the Local Content and Private Sector Development Unit, Fahad Al-Skeit, explained to "Alyaum" that the Government Fee Reimbursement Initiative for new and emerging Small and Medium Enterprises (Esterdad) includes all the facilities that were established since 2016 and being established until the end of 2020.
He said that these facilities are eligible to recover these fees with a maximum of three years since the registration of the first employee in the Social Insurance System.
He pointed to the possibility of registering companies with the initiative from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2020.
The importance of initiative
He said, "Esterdad is one of the most important initiatives of the private sector stimulus plan that was implemented by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat).
Its importance lies in the fact that it concentrates on all economic sectors in the Kingdom and deals with the return of some government fees for small and medium enterprises especially the renewal of commercial registration of companies, registration of Chamber of Commerce, registration of trademark, in addition to the Saudi Post subscription "National Address," fees for publishing a company's founding contract, a municipal license, licenses for economic activities, and expatriate labor fees as their percentage in the establishment do not exceed 20% of the number of employees and up to 80 workers.
Mitigation of financial burdens
He added that the aim of this initiative is to encourage new and emerging SMEs to enter the market and support them to achieve growth during the first years of work.
He said, "this is a challenging period, so by compensating them with the value of certain fees on startups in priority sectors in order to reduce the financial burden of fees related to new licenses, annual fees, and employer-related fees during the first three years of the first Social Security employee."
He pointed out that the initiative is expected to raise the proportion of the contribution of enterprises in the GDP from 20% to 35% to achieve the vision of the Kingdom 2030.
It will also contribute more effectively to providing more jobs due to the growing number of registered companies and increased business continuity.
Motivating the Private Sector
He added that in addition to the Esterdad initiative, there are also three other initiatives aimed at SMEs as part of the private sector motivation plan.
The initiative includes raising the capital of "Kafalah program" to provide liquidity guarantees for the largest segment of SMEs, and the initiative of indirect lending to small and medium enterprises, which will contribute to increasing sources of finance and non-banking financing solutions, which is implemented by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat).
And the initiative of the Government's venture investment fund for small and medium enterprises, which aims to bridge the current funding gap, which is being implemented by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat).
He pointed out that private sector development is one of the most important objectives of the local content and private sector development unit, which is developing in the long term through several tracks. The unit also stimulates the growth of the private sector in the short term through the private sector incentive plan that started on December 2017.
The Unit participated in the design of these initiatives with the private sector and a number of government agencies that are currently implementing them.
The Government Fee Reimbursement Initiative for new and emerging SMEs "Esterdad" is one of the outputs of the private sector motivation plan, which is implemented by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat).
