Governor of Madinah Province Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz signed with Governor of the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Eng. Saleh al-Rasheed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the development of the business environment in the region. The project is to be implemented through the Center for Economic Development by encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation and organizing related events, in addition to establishing a Council of Entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises in the region as a permanent member of the authority. Executive Director of the Emirate Economic Development Center Mohammed al-Yousef stressed that the joint MoU aims at strengthening the Madinah region’s competitive advantage in various sectors, supporting joint efforts to strengthen the role of women and specifying a timetable for the implementation of a series of initiatives with the parties concerned. These initiatives amount to 15 and will be achieved through cooperation between the city and the authority. A working group has been set up to develop an operational plan for these initiatives to come up with specific programs within 90 days of signing this MoU. Notably, the initiatives and programs to be implemented in the region in cooperation with relevant authorities include an initiative to develop and implement private equity and venture capital programs, initiative to develop and spread the culture and ideology of self-employment and entrepreneurship principles, franchise program, the support for SME growth and launch of e-applications and services to support small and medium enterprises.