A leading corporate group in the Eastern Province has offered to provide free training programs to unemployed Saudi youth. The offer includes the provision of free interest loan facilities to finance the business ventures chosen by the recipients. The training and funding of business ventures will be provided by Abdullah Hamad Al-Zamil (AHZ) Group of Companies, one of the largest and most highly diversified corporate establishments in the Kingdom, through its AHZ Community Service Center. The support programs of the center for Saudi youth will be coordinated with the Asharqia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which will identify the small and medium scale businesses to be offered for training and eventually the initial funding by the AHZ Community Center, the core unit in implementing the corporate social responsibility initiative of the Al-Zamil Group. An agreement of cooperation between the AHZ Community Center and Asharqia Chamber was signed last week between Abdullah Al-Sulaim, secretary general of the center, and Adnan Abdullah Al-Nuaim, secretary general of Asharqia Chamber. “The offer of free training and provision of interest-free financial assistance to our youth is aimed at motivating them to achieve self-dependency so that they can fulfill their economic objectives in life and meet their social obligations,” Al-Sulaim said. He said the free training program aims to prepare Saudi youth for jobs in various administrative, technical and vocational fields in order to improve their skills in managing their selected SMEs project, and at same time promote their employment chances. SMEs in Saudi Arabia represent almost 93 percent of total enterprises, but account for only 24.7 percent of total employment. Despite the encouragement extended to young Saudis to engage in SMEs through various incentives provided by non-government organizations, like the AHZ Community Center, the rate of unemployment among Saudis rose to 10.5 percent in 2009 from 10 percent a year earlier, and topped 43 percent among men and women aged 20-24, according to the Central Department of Statistics and Information, Ministry of Finance.
