Doha Bank, CNA-Q sign deal to train small and medium enterprises

Doha Bank and College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) have announced a partnership that will see the two organisations working together to enhance the knowledge-based business advantages available to the bank’s small and medium enterprise (SME) clients. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in this regard between Suresh Bajpai, head of retail banking at Doha Bank, and Dr Ken MacLeod, president of CNA-Q.“Doha Bank is proud to be an active corporate citizen in Qatar. This partnership with CNA-Q will support the bank’s strategic SME clients as they seek new and more innovative ways to build and retain market share as well as to seek competitive or operational advantages in their specific areas of expertise. Qatar has immense economic growth potential in the coming decades. As with many other economies that have been through similar growth phases, small and medium enterprises are projected to have an increasingly larger share of local sustainability building responsibilities, besides contributing significantly to the growth of the country’s economy to fulfil Qatar’s National Vision 2030,” said Doha Bank Group CEO R Seetharaman, elaborating on the partnership. Dr MacLeod said: “CNA-Q is Qatar’s premier comprehensive technical college and is one of the largest institutions of its kind in Qatar and the region, with more than 650 staff and over 4,500 full- and part-time students. With four core programme areas covering health sciences, information technology, engineering and business studies, CNA-Q has the academic credentials and expertise to support some of Qatar’s leading SMEs in these key areas. In addition, through this partnership, Doha Bank and CNA-Q can help the bank’s clients and SMEs in general focus on building their business knowledge across various organisational levels. Our experienced faculty can, for example, help these clients incorporate global best practices in business management, strategy, growth, marketing and operational sustainability, through various sessions planned during the year or through bespoke courses.”The college will, through this partnership with Doha Bank, offer part-time corporate courses that are tailored to respond to the unique training needs of organisations through the corporate training division at CNA-Q.Doha Bank’s SME unit, which is called Tatweer, is one of the leading banking and advisory units of its kind in Qatar and works with small and medium businesses with key financial services, led by an advisory approach. The bank’s team of relationship managers works alongside clients to create business value across various banking parameters.Tatweer provides financing for clients to meet various operational needs and also offers a range of products and services to enable growth and improve efficiency. Some key financial products and services include financing capital expenditure and working capital requirements, and overseas trade financing such as import and export requirements.Through Tatweer, Doha Bank also infuses cash into client businesses to meet day-to-day or ad hoc cash requirements with product offerings such as the SME credit card, cash management services and short-term financing facilities.