Doha: Qatar Development Bank (QDB) launched "Entrepreneurship Leave Program" today in cooperation with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs.
The "Entrepreneurship Leave Program" aims at supporting Qatari entrepreneurs working in various government institutions by giving them paid-leave from their jobs to become full-time entrepreneurs, thus helping them develop their existing projects in accordance with the plan agreed with Qatar Development Bank.
In a press conference held Sunday, QDB gave a detailed presentation about the programme and its objectives and how to benefit from it, provided that the salary of the employee does not exceed a maximum of QR 50,000.
QDB will start receiving applications for the new programme between October 13 and December 24.
The "Entrepreneurship Leave Program" targets Qatari nationals, who are government employees, subject to the Human Resources Law No. (15) of 2016, who owns existing projects and wish to devote their full time to developing these projects.
An employee wishing to benefit from the new programme is required to be at least 18 years of age, owns a project in place for at least two years with audited financial statements. Each applicant must also have a professional experience of at least 3 years and be employed in the same employer for at least one year during the application date.
Speaking at the press conference, CEO of Qatar Development Bank Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa said the move is part of the Bank's efforts to engage and support all components of the business community and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in driving the development of the entrepreneurial climate in the country, including Qatari employees in the government sector.
Al Khalifa added that this category of entrepreneurs has demonstrated great potential for the development of private, pioneering and successful projects, taking advantage of the experience obtained from their work places in the government institutions in their respective fields.
Al Khalifa expressed QDB's pleasure to contribute to achieving such development and to continue supporting private sector entrepreneurs to develop business and the role of the private sector development in the national economy.
He noted that there are qualifications that raise the chances of the project owner to be selected in the program which includes that the project is in line with Qatar National Vision 2030, be on an innovative basis, meets a national need, and can be out of the framework of a specific service to a more comprehensive service.
For his part, Director of Policies and Human Resources Planning Department at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, Fahad Mohammed Al Khayareen, said that the Ministry seeks to cooperate with various government and non-government institutions in the State to encourage the private sector and engage the government sector in achieving this target, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
He noted that the government entities have become an integrated system that aims through the various activities to give the employees different skills at various levels, stressing the Ministry's keenness on providing all necessary support to ensure the realization of this new project, which will be another pillar for the development of the state economy by pumping qualified human resources for production and innovation in building a private sector immune to all challenges.
