The brand-new initiative is the latest addition to Tamkeen’s flagship Enterprise Development Support Programme, which delivers accessible business support services to private sector enterprises.

 

The scheme is expected to serve 300 beneficiaries, with an allocated budget of BD5.5 million ($14.4 million). It was launched following a comprehensive analysis of the needs of SME’s for legal and judicial services.

 

The legal services covered by the scheme include important basic services such as company registration, Initial Public Offering (IPO) filing, and other related matters such as changes to the company’s legal status, business activity, name, shareholding terms, and adding or removing partners or shareholders, said a statement from Tamkeen.

 

Other important services include drafting, reviewing and provisioning of legal contracts and templates to ensure consistency and protection of all parties involved in business transactions, preserving intellectual properties such as registration of patents, trademarks, designs and other aspects of copyrighted materials as defined by the law.

 

Tamkeen’s senior manager of private sector support Mohammed Bucheery said, “Having clearly-defined legal frameworks in day to day business transactions is one of the key drivers of entrepreneurship. As such, we are immensely pleased to add this scheme to be among the schemes under the Enterprise Development Support Programme which enable business owners in Bahrain to enhance their business and be well-positioned to achieve sustainable growth.” 

 

As with the other schemes under the Enterprise Development Support Programme, Tamkeen will cover 80 per cent of the cost of the legal fees of the firms approved by Tamkeen for this scheme, up to a maximum of BD15,000 for small enterprises and BD20,000 for medium and large enterprises, said the Tamkeen statement. 

 

In all, Tamkeen has allocated over BD126 million to the Enterprise Development Programme, and more than 5,500 enterprises in Bahrain have benefited from its schemes to date, it added.-TradeArabia News Service