Cultivating a sustainable ecosystem for entrepreneurship for national transformation: Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to apprise the readers of the initiatives of Saudi Aramco in entrepreneurship development and growth in the country. Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center (SAEC) was launched in 2011 with an objective to develop local enterprises in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to establish or expand Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), to support existing SMEs, and to cultivate a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. Aligned with the mission, the centre focuses on the following Support: Start-ups, Financial, Growth and Ecosystem Development. In addition, ‘Aramco Entrepreneurship Ventures (AEV)’ was created to support local venturing. Business Incubation was initiated to complement the financial support programs. Despite its relatively short life span, the centre achieved remarkable achievements ] nearly 50 new start-up businesses by various initiatives, training for over 2000 potential entrepreneurs, and offer of hundreds of educational sessions throughout the KSA, just to name a few.