Tamkeen, Bahrain’s labour fund, held two meetings with Bahrain-based business owners and a number of prominent women to share and discuss its 2012 Operational Plan.

The outreach initiative comes as part of Tamkeen's commitment to transparency and closer stakeholder engagement, in addition to its ongoing support to Bahraini businesses and economically empowering women.

The meetings were headed by Tamkeen chief executive Mahmood Al Kooheji and other members of its senior management.

They went through the plan with more than 20 business owners from different sectors and nine prominent business-women.

This was followed by an open session where the participants shared their feedback on the plan and discussed other current issues within the market such as distressed enterprises and potential for new enterprise support schemes to be integrated in the near future.

The women's meeting also discussed Tamkeen's women empowerment strategy and programmes which support them and how they can maximise the benefits from those schemes.

It also highlighted the importance of Tamkeen's role in driving entrepreneurship amongst women.

"I found the session very useful and I would like to thank Tamkeen for providing us with the opportunity to express our views," said FinMark Communications managing director Zahra Taher.

"We hope that it continues to follow in this path," she added.

Public consultations will continue until the first week of March, and are part of Tamkeen's mandate which requires consultations to take place and be evaluated before its annual and general investment plans can be approved by the board.

The sessions will continue with beneficiaries, media channels, service providers, partners, government agencies and legislative bodies, among others.

Consultations will serve as a platform for stakeholders to provide input and create a better understanding of Tamkeen's objectives, current and upcoming projects, processes and role as a driver of economic growth and development in accordance with Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.

Tamkeen has allocated nearly BD107 million ($283.8 million) for projects and programmes, with 20 new initiatives slated for launch during the current year. More than 22,000 beneficiaries are expected to benefit from programmes in 2012. – TradeArabia News Service