Korea-Saudi Governments Select and Support Small and Medium Venture Companies Jointly Entering the Middle East
The Korean government and the Saudi Arabian government will jointly select and support 27 Korean small and medium-sized venture companies that will advance into the Middle East in four fields, including artificial intelligence (AI).
Saudi Arabia will participate with three ministries, six organizations, and private venture capitalists, and HUMAIN, Saudi Arabia’s general AI organization, has expressed its intention to entrust and invest up to $2 million in projects.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korean Embassy in Saudi Arabia announced on the 25th that they will recruit companies to participate in the SME Middle East Advancement Support Project, which supports SMEs advancing into the Middle East, from the 7th to the 24th of next month in cooperation with the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia has recently emerged as a market with high growth rates and great potential due to its active reform and openness policies, but it has been a difficult market for our small and medium-sized venture companies to enter due to strict government regulations and heterogeneous cultures and religions.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Saudi Embassy in Saudi Arabia agreed that active cooperation with the local government and selection of Saudi companies that reflect market demand are necessary for SMEs to enter Saudi Arabia.
Accordingly, the Saudi government decided to promote a support project in which companies that will directly enter Saudi Arabia are selected.
Since April, the Saudi Embassy in Saudi Arabia has visited and interviewed nine Saudi government agencies more than 20 times to explain the excellence of Korean SMEs and startup ecosystems, the content of the support project, and the necessity of promotion, and persuaded them to participate.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups also actively supported the project by collaborating with related organizations such as the Global Business Center (GBC) of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, the Korea Venture Business Association, and the Korea Federation of SMEs, and by allocating a budget through overseas expansion support projects.
As a result, the Saudi Ministry of Investment announced that it would visit Korea to directly select SMEs that will enter Saudi Arabia along with government ministries, agencies, and private venture capitalists, and began promoting the support project in earnest.
The support project recruitment areas are 10 AI, 7 bio/health, 5 tourism/entertainment, and 5 smart city/construction, and 27 companies will be selected in 4 fields.
For the AI field, only startups that have been established for less than 10 years can apply, and for the other fields, any small or medium-sized enterprise can apply.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Saudi Embassy will accept applications until the 24th of next month, conduct a document evaluation at the end of next month, and select the final participating companies through a face-to-face evaluation with Saudi experts in August.
The selected companies will visit Saudi Arabia at the end of September to visit local government agencies and participate in interviews, investment attraction briefings, and networking events to advance into the local market, win business contracts, and attract investment.
Currently, Saudi government ministries and agencies are showing great interest and anticipation in cooperation with Korean SMEs and startups, and in particular, HUMAIN, Saudi Arabia’s general AI agency, has expressed its intention to entrust business or invest up to 2 million dollars per company.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korean Embassy in Saudi Arabia plan to hold the first and second briefing sessions on the 8th and 10th of next month to raise awareness of the support project and Saudi Arabia among participating companies and to promote the support project.
Details of the announcement for the support project for SMEs entering the Middle East can be found on the K-Startup website and the website of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Applications for the project will be accepted online from the 7th to the 24th of next month on the Small and Medium Business Overseas Exhibition Portal.
Moon Byung-joon, Acting Ambassador to the Korean Embassy in Saudi Arabia, said, “We hope that this project will lead to the expansion of our companies’ Saudi Arabian expansion, which was mainly led by large companies in some industries such as construction and defense, to advanced industries such as AI led by SMEs and startups.”
Lee Soon-bae, Director General of Global Growth Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, emphasized, “Saudi Arabia is a market with market size, purchasing power, and growth potential, and it is a market that we must enter in order to globalize our SMEs and diversify our export markets.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it will actively support SMEs to become the main players in the second Middle East boom by forming the K-One Team together with SME-related organizations such as the Korea Federation of SMEs, Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, and Korea Venture Business Association, as well as the Korean Embassy in Saudi Arabia and local support organizations.
[Editor Lee]
