Ooredoo, along with Qatar National Bank (QNB), is sponsoring the Small and Medium Enterprise Evolution Programme (SMEEP) Season 5 (2013), developed by Potential.com.

The programme aims to offer best practices and practical support to existing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Qatar and consists of live webinar training sessions and workshops over a five-month period. It also provides content, tools, offers and resources that can be accessed on www.potential.com.

The Ooredoo- and QNB-sponsored initiative is available free of charge to all SMEs. It aims to empower business enterprises in Qatar and provide them with essential telecom and banking services. The programme, which is now running in 29 countries, will enhance its participants’ skills, allowing them to compete effectively in the international market.

Ooredoo will give the participants access to training and development courses, which include 13 webinars in English, French and Arabic, in addition to live events delivered by keynote speakers, who are all experts in their field. The webinars and live events will cover practical business topics such as strategy, innovation, business planning and financing, among others. There will also be a number of workshops, which will focus on business expansion and information communication technology.

A workshop will take place on May 22 in Doha. By the end of the programme, registered SMEs will benefit from gaining business expertise, exposure, access to finance and more.

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al-Thani, chief new business officer at Ooredoo, said: “At Ooredoo, we see the small and medium business sector as critically important for the economic development of the nation. We are pleased to support this business development programme, which will help enhance skills and share knowledge.”

Dimitros Criticos, head of business SME banking at QNB, said: “We are keen to be a long-term partner of our clients, supporting them in their growth. By sponsoring this programme, we believe it will help them in their growth.”

The tools of the programme also include providing business owners with access to ever- growing social networks, which will serve as an extension of their business on digital platforms. This will allow SMEs to network with their peers and gain support from each other.

Special SME-focused business offers will be provided to businesses, including access to finance, which is a major requirement for many. Finally, businesses will also have opportunities to make new partnerships with participants from other countries where the programme is being run.

The spring rollout is part of a wider SME development initiative, which will see the latest programme run concurrently in 29 countries across the emerging markets region. Some of the countries are Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Ghana and South Africa.

Shadi Banna, managing partner at Potential, said: “This is the fifth edition of the SME evolution programme; we have so far had more than 10,000 SMEs across emerging markets benefiting from the programme. We thank the Ooredoo and QNB management for their participation.”