Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s National Technology Development Program (NTDP) launched the Connect initiative to support local tech startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The initiative aims to qualify the capabilities of micro, small, and medium-sized tech companies to become a qualified service provider, increasing their participation in public and private projects.

Connect Initiative also targets increasing the productivity of tech SMEs and their contribution to the local content.

The initiative will provide funds covering a portion of the material costs for proof of capability to demonstrate the quality of local tech SMEs.

Through the initiative, SMEs will benefit from the Tech SMEs Qualification Program which provides training in four main pillars: operational excellence, financial literacy, customer management, policies, and procedures.

Connect will provide a database of existing local tech SMEs to help large tech companies find suitable local tech SMEs to work on their projects, and a list of all reliable and recognized local tech SMEs.