In May 2013, Tamkeen announced the launch of “Mantoojati”, an initiative aimed at enhancing the growth and sustainability of productive families in Bahrain. The programme supports Tamkeen’s on-going efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and enhance enterprise capabilities in Bahrain, in line with the overall objective to make the private sector the engine that drives the development of the economy.
The principal reason behind the launch of the initiative is to shed light on original Bahraini-products made by Bahrainis, whereby they would be encouraged to further expand their customer base and showcase their Bahraini-based products that can compete with regional and international equivalents.
Through “Mantoojati”, the beneficiaries receive support in form of kiosks in selected shopping malls around the kingdom, which intends to enable these beneficiaries to maximize their exposure and market their products and services to a wider customer base.
Through this unique programme, Tamkeen highlights the importance of the efforts exerted by productive families and believes they have a key role to play in driving growth and innovation. Therefore, through this programme, Tamkeen provides the assistance necessary to assist in the growth of its beneficiaries, which gives them a wider scope to market their products and at the same time promoting Bahraini culture to both locals and foreigners.
The support amount per applicant is around BD 6,000 which covers the cost of renting and setting up of the kiosk. The financial support is complemented by valuable advisory services provided to the beneficiaries by Tamkeen and Family Bank. The applicants will also be trained for 10 days on how to market their products in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour.
To date, more than 88 beneficiaries have registered in the programme, in which 9 applicants will be selected during in the pilot phase. The unique products displayed by the benefiting productive families include items such as clothing, handicrafts, artworks, foods, perfumes, jewelry, make-up, and much more.