Tamkeen, Bahrain’s Labour Fund, has helped a Bahraini artist and businesswoman to set up her own art gallery through its enterprise development scheme (EDS).

Utilising Tamkeen’s ESD, Bahraini artist Nadine Al Shaikh enrolled for the business development scheme (BDS) and out of a total of 157 beneficiaries in BDS, Nadine is so far the only businesswoman to use the scheme to leverage a non-traditional business and drive her business forward.

Using the resources of Tamkeen’s EDS programme which gave her access to consultancy services of Jaffari Consultants, Nadine is now ready with a strategic development project that will use the unique location of her Nadine Gallery in Ghufool to push up the commercial value of her art business.

“As the daughter of well-known artist Ali Bashir Al-Shaikh, I grew up surrounded by art and beauty and I guess it was natural for me to become an artist myself,” Nadine said.

“I started Nadine Gallery as a business venture in 2007 and when I heard that Tamkeen was facilitating the empowerment of small and medium businesses through access to consultation with experts, my husband and business partner Aref Kooheji and I grabbed the chance to explore new avenues of business development and growth.”

Nadine enrolled as a participant in the business development scheme of Tamkeen’s EDS and worked closely with Jafcon’s team to develop a business vision for her gallery that would incorporate creativity and profitability.

The business vision stated that Nadine Gallery would strive to “be the unique house of art that embeds the passion of art in its entire products and services, with oriental flavor, to translate the beauty without words, worldwide".

“This was undoubtedly a unique opportunity, because not many artists or creative people think of developing a business and profitability plan based on their talent,” said Ebrahim Radhi, Jaffari consultant project manager.

“Using the business vision as a reference, we have developed three strategic road maps for Nadine Gallery: ‘Partnership’ by participating in promoting the art culture in the region, ‘Theme of Art’ by embedding creativity and art in the entire Nadine Gallery line of products and services, and thirdly, developing Nadine Gallery as a ‘Second Home’ for artists and art lovers by offering events, products and services that will speak directly to their special creativity.”

Nadine and the consultants have come up with a list of 20 innovative and creative concepts that will enhance business growth such as art exhibitions, training courses for artists and interior designing projects. All these will be driven by a focused marketing strategy.

“I think Tamkeen’s EDS programme opens new doors for SMEs – and it also opens our eyes to new opportunities,” Nadine said.

“It creates a culture of business creativity and nurtures SMEs by providing access to expertise that we would not otherwise consider approaching. In the process, we are able to develop new ideas to take our business further,” she added.

“What’s most important is that the business development scheme of the EDS programme gives us access not just to consultants but also to assistance to translate our blueprints into robust reality.”

Nadine is now looking at a five-year implementation programme that sets out a clear timeline and action blueprint to achieve the many smaller goals that will eventually build Nadine Gallery as a unique regional art centre.

“Tamkeen’s core focus in EDS are the SMEs which are the backbone of Bahrain’s future development and we are delighted that a total of 827 companies have made full use of our resources,” said Mohammed Bucheery, Tamkeen’s senior manager for private sector support.

“The success of Nadine Gallery’s EDS experience is a great message that business focus and profitability is a matter of vision and planning which every enterprise can utilise. We