(openPR) - Abu Dhabi, 3rd October 2011: Over 160 SME owners, government officials and bank executives gathered today at the inaugural Middle East SME Forum 2011 held in Park Rotana Hotel Abu Dhabi, UAE. Chairman’s opening remarks focused on fostering growth in the region’s SME sector delivered by Haitham AlRefaie, Head of Business Banking Group in National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and was followed by the welcome keynote from H.E. Mohammed Omar Abdullah, Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

Presentation by Farouk Soussa, Chief Economist – Middle East of Citibank, kick started the discussion where he analyzed prospects and barriers for SME growth in MENA. Farouk pointed 5 key areas crucial for SME growth, namely: Political Environment, Macro-economic Environment, Business Environment, Availability of Finance and Innovation.

During this morning's plenary session, opportunities and challenges in the SME Sector were the main focus bringing about questions on policy implications, development and identification of major challenges towards the current governmental schemes in funding for start up businesses. Featured panelists were Eng. Omar Qaryouti, CEO Assistant for Programme Support & Technical Development from JEDCO, Dr. Manoj Nakra, Executive Director at Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development, Osama Abdulaziz Al-Zamil, General Manager and Corporate Business Development at Zamil Group Co., Howard Gaunt Executive Vice President and Head of Business Banking Group from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. The plenary session has been moderated by Ahmed El-Ekiaby Head of Sales and Distribution: Business Banking Group at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

After the plenary session presentation on overcoming risks related to SME by Nilanjan Ray, Senior Vice President and Head of SME Banking from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank was held. Nilanjan Ray analyzed in detail 5 major risk areas including Management Risks, Financial Risks, Marketing Risks, Technology Risks and Human Resource Risks. He explained the support structure and associates for effective risk management and highlighted ADCB's strong support in this area, “ADCB is pleased to be the strategic partner of the Middle East SME Forum 2011; ADCB is committed to developing the SME sector to achieve a robust growth portfolio and spread of credit facilities among SME customers. We have pioneered our unique SME risk and credit policy which allows us to launch tailored lending products to SMEs. We assess SME customers differently from Corporate and hence believe we are able to cater to a larger cross-section of customers.”

Culminating on 4 Oct, the forum is organised by Fleming Gulf Conferences with The National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), al khaliji, Mashreq and Al Hilal Bank as sponsors.

For more information, please contact:
Lucia Kasanicka
Marketing Manager
Fleming Gulf FZE
T: +971 4609 1570
E: lucia.kasanicka@fleminggulf.com
W: www.fleminggulf.com/finance/middle-east/middle-east-sme-f...

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