RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s small and medium enterprises are witnessing robust growth in entrepreneurial activity, with the total number of registered SMEs reaching 1.2 million at the end of the first quarter, as the Kingdom pushes ahead with its goal to expand local businesses. This includes more than 88,000 new businesses which were established throughout the Kingdom in the first quarter of 2023, registering 4.8 percent growth over the fourth quarter of 2022, and a striking 179 percent growth from 2016, according to the latest report from SME General Authority, also known as Monsha’at. The growth was driven by a combination of supporting business policies, advantageous macroeconomic circumstances, prospective investments, and an established entrepreneurial culture. “The Kingdom has undertaken a series of bold initiatives to develop its economy, reduce its dependency on oil, and contribute to achieving Vision 2030’s goal of building a diversified and sustainable ecosystem, developing SMEs, and supporting entrepreneurs through private and public sector cooperation,” Munir Mohammad Nasser bin Saad, chairman of Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah Chamber said in the report titled SME Monitor. He commended the role played by Monsha’at to “enable the wider entrepreneurship ecosystem through its many innovative services designed to help SMEs overcome challenges and build the businesses of tomorrow.” Saudi Arabia’s SME ecosystem extends throughout the country, but Riyadh region continues to dominate the sector, as the capital city fosters dynamic growth across several key industries, the report said. The first quarter report stated that Riyadh “played a significant role” as it had the highest percentage of SMEs at a rate of 41.4 percent, followed by Makkah and Eastern province at 18.9 percent and 11.1 percent respectively. The Kingdom’s emerging new SMEs also managed to attract $359 million in venture capital funding in the first quarter of 2023. The unprecedented growth in SME activities saw the sector employing 6.5 million people in Saudi Arabia by the end of first quarter. Meanwhile, Monsha’at also helped launch the SME Bank which played an important role in increasing the productivity of SMEs and boosting their contribution to the gross domestic product to 35 percent by 2030. Also noteworthy were the achievements of the Biban 2023 Forum — an event held in Riyadh in March and attended by an estimated 145,000 visitors from all over the world — which generated over $13.8 billion in agreements and announcements for SMEs in the Kingdom. Monsha’at also recently obtained three international ISO certificates for applying the best international practices and standards to build a competitive and sustainable ecosystem spurring growth across various sectors, the report noted.