RIYADH: As part of its efforts to expand the Kingdom’s industrial base, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has launched a business accelerator and incubator program, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday. The program involves “15 qualitative industrial projects” for Saudi Arabia’s industrial pioneers and aims to identify challenges and ways to resolve issues for sustainable growth. The new initiative — which will last for more than three months — also aims to boost the efficiency of small and medium industrial projects in the Kingdom. According to an official spokesperson of the ministry Jarrah bin Muhammad Al-Jarrah, the ministry asked entrepreneurs last May to register with the Nomu accelerator and industrial business incubator, which aimed to meet the specific needs of industrial project owners and SMEs. He said the initiatives fall in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the National Industrial Strategy to expand the industrial base of Saudi Arabia and promote SMEs and enable them to compete globally. Al-Jarrah said the program aims to provide a platform to support the ideas of industrial entrepreneurs while helping them establish their projects and boost their success rate. The spokesman said the ministry seeks to provide an enabling environment for industrial entrepreneurs by studying and evaluating the current situation of emerging, small and medium industries in the Kingdom and comparing local standards with international norms.