RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding startup ecosystem is driving small and medium enterprises in the Kingdom, with the number of such firms climbing to 1.14 million by the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. The latest SME Monitor report released by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises, also known as Monsha’at, revealed that the Kingdom witnessed a 6 percent quarter-on-quarter growth in the number of SMEs during the fourth quarter of 2022. As Saudi Arabia steadily diversifies its economy in line with the goals outlined in Vision 2030, the private sector played a crucial role to help the Kingdom’s non-oil economy to grow by 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. The report, which was released ahead of the Biban 2023 SME conference, pointed out that 40 percent of the SMEs in the Kingdom are located in Riyadh, a strong indication of the capital city’s rapidly expanding start-up ecosystem. Monsha’at Governor Sami Ibrahim Alhussaini called the release of the latest SME Monitor ahead of Biban 23 “an important development.” To be held on March 9 to 19, the region’s largest start-up, SMEs, and entrepreneurship conference is expected to attract 105,000 attendees from the Kingdom and abroad. “As the flagship event for startups and SMEs, the opportunities at Biban 23 are further proof of the entrepreneurial progress of the Kingdom that is so amply documented in the latest quarterly report,” he said. Being held under the theme ‘Attract-Connect-Achieve,’ Biban 23 will also feature over 350 speakers sharing their insights about the SME ecosystem globally and regionally. The event will also host more than 300 workshops distributed among over 20,000 beneficiaries. Biban 2023 will also host the final round of the Entrepreneurship World Cup, the first and largest competition of its kind, which sees entrepreneurs from over 200 countries competing for cash prizes worth over $1 million. Monsha’at which works on designing specialized programs, services, and initiatives is looking to reduce the Kingdom’s unemployment rate to 7 percent from 11.6 percent while increasing women’s participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent by 2030.