The board of Bahrain’s labour fund Tamkeen has approved its operational plan for 2015-2017, a report said.

 It also reviewed the audited financial statements and the progress of the revamped Enterprise Support Programme during its first regular meeting for this year, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"The board approved Tamkeen's 2015-2017 strategy and 2015 operational plan," Tamkeen chairman and acting chief executive Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa said.

"The new strategy, which is partly based on extensive consultations with the public, sums up how we have restructured our operations and aligned it with our core strategic pillars: enhancing quality, being more customer focused, and achieving better results, to serve the changing needs of the market more effectively."

The board also reviewed progress of the revamped Enterprise Support Programme since its relaunch in September last year.

The report showed that the flagship programme has become notably more efficient, transparent, flexible, and measurable as a result of the new features added, including an online portal for customers and service providers.

The report on the programme also illustrated that the increased flexibility of the programme has made it more effective in serving enterprises through their various stages.

Key to this was setting a unified process to provide tailored support solutions for each enterprise, while at the same time linking the support amount with its economic potential and degree of success in achieving its development goals.

The board also nominated Khalid Al Amin for the position of vice-chairman in recognition of the vital role and significant contribution businessmen and the private sector representatives play in supporting Tamkeen's efforts.

The board also formed the mandated oversight committees, including the audit committee, to be headed by Hassan Jarrar with membership from Kadhim Al Saeed and Mohammed Abdulrahman, and the governance committee to be headed by Mohammed Adel Fakhro with membership from Abdulellah Al Qassimi and an additional external member.

The Tamkeen board of directors consists of eight members representing the organisations which spearhead the development of the private sector, with three members from the public sector and five from the private sector as follows: Government (Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa and Mr Al Qassimi), Economic Development Board (Dr Zakaria Hejres), Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Al Amin, Fakhro and Al Saeed), General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions ( Abdulrahman) and the Bahrain Association of Banks (Jarrar). – TradeArabia News Service