Business & Finance Club - Bahrain : Tamkeen has added another partner to its finance scheme with the coming on board of BMI Bank (BMI) which will offer access to growth funds to Bahraini companies.

The financing scheme with BMI will see Tamkeen subsidising up to 50% of the profits payable to the bank as loan repayment and entrepreneurs who fulfill the basic requirements will be able to benefit from loans ranging from BD10,000 to BD500,000 to design a higher growth trajectory for their company.

The BMI support programme is Sharia'h compliant and is designed to enable enterprises to access the required funds to meet their expansion plans that aims at enhancing their productivity. The finance is offered to the enterprises at a subsidised profit rate of 4% per annum on reducing balance and an option of a long repayment tenor of up to 7 years.

"This partnership with BMI addresses one of the core values that Tamkeen represents - the empowering and enabling of growth and development that will complement the Vision 2030 development matrix of our leaders" said Tamkeen's Vice President for Enterprise and Human Capital Development, Dr. Ahmed AbdulGhani Al Shaikh, "The finance scheme is a very important and effective instrument in enabling the private sector, especially SME, to access much-needed funds at low cost, to stimulate growth and expansion. BMI is the fourth bank to join Tamkeen in this vital mission - we also work closely with the Bahrain Islamic Bank, Shamil Bank of Bahrain and Bahrain Development Bank on similar financing schemes and have already allocated BD82.5m for easily accessible development finance for the private sector".

The programme is accessible to all businesses with a Bahraini ownership of 51% and above which have met the Bahrainisation level determined by the LMRA. It is designed to deliver funds to enterprise and SMEs within 15 working days of receiving applications and relevant documents and allows entrepreneurs flexible repayment with exemption of all future profits in case of early settlement of the full financing amount.

Jamal Al Hazeem, Chief Executive Officer of BMI Bank said "In line with our commitment to provide our customers with innovative financial solutions, I am pleased to sign this strategic agreement with Tamkeen which will help us in providing Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) customers with convenient and quick access to finance through a comprehensive range of products. Being a Bahraini bank, it is our responsibility to participate in and boost the local economic growth and consider the SME segment as a very crucial and increasingly important component in the country's development and together with Tamkeen, we will now be able to make a significant difference."

The practice of enabling enterprises to access finance through guaranteeing them is found in many countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, and many other countries. Bahrain's model provides in addition to guaranteeing enterprises a subsidy on the profit.
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