SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRIZE (SMES) & ENTREPRENEURSHIP DR. ABDULLAH O. BAFAIL, DEAN FACULTY OF ENGINEERING KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY

Outline Why SMEs? Why SMEs? Readiness For SMEs! Readiness For SMEs! Entrepreneurship Program Entrepreneurship Program Global Trend Global Trend Faculty of Engineering, KAU Faculty of Engineering, KAU Entrepreneurship Experience Entrepreneurship Experience Recommendations Recommendations

Why SMEs? Reduce Unemployment Increase Productivity Contribute to the GDP Reduce Dependency on imports

SME Economical Impact SMEs represent over 95% of enterprises in most countries and generate over half of private sector employment In the EU, SMEs account for 66% of employment Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) targeting 2020, having 81% of the people and 66% of the people employed by SMEs SMEs in Saudi Arabia represent almost 93% of total enterprises and account for about 25% of employment Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

READINESS FOR SMES!

INVESTMENT ADVANTAGE IN KSA Largest market in the gulf Stable currency Availability of financial institutions

Is the Society Ready? (1/4) A survey was performed to study the acceptance of entrepreneurs (not employees) by four groups of the society including: –Males (40 and 60 years old) (n = 215) –Females ( 40 and 60 years old)(n = 202) –Males (22 to 39 years old) (n = 277) –Females (22 to 39 years old)(n = 209) The survey consisted of 12 questions

Is the Society Ready? (2/4) Would you encourage your son/daughter or brother/sister to start his/her own business?

Is the Society Ready? (3/4) Would you accept an entrepreneur (not an employee) to marry your daughter or son?

Is the Society Ready? (4/4) If you are employed, would you be willing to quit your job and create your own business?

Regulations (1/2) Australia Saudi Arabia Chad No. of Procedures To Setup a New Business Source: International Finance Corporation (IFC) – World Bank Group 2005 UAE 5 12 USA 8 Croatia

Regulations (2/2) Australia Saudi Arabia Chad No. of Days To Setup a New Business Source: International Finance Corporation (IFC) – World Bank Group 2005 UAE 5 54 USA 75 Croatia NOT TO SCALE

Promoting SMEs Ease of Regulations Development of new policies to protect small investors Promote entrepreneurship culture

ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM

Why Techno Entrepreneurship? Initiative The Faculty of Engineering took the initiative to prepare the first academic entrepreneurship program in the Kingdom

Paradigm Shift X Traditional culture culture X Follow instructions X No mistakes or failure X Do not take initiative X Stay within your sandbox Entrepreneurial culture Entrepreneurial culture Create Experiment Take responsibility Ownership

Engineering Entrepreneurship Implementation – USA (1/3) On a Department Level – A course –Drexel University – Biomedical Engineering –Muhlenberg College – Software Engineering On a college level – A course –Georgia Institute of Technology –University of Maryland –University of California, Irvine

Engineering Entrepreneurship Implementation – USA (2/3) On a University Level – Multi discipline entrepreneurship courses –Duke University In addition to an engineering entrepreneurship course (TechEval) with a mission to “transfer technologies from the university to the world)

Engineering Entrepreneurship Implementation – USA (3/3) On a University Level – An entrepreneurship center –University of South Florida promoting interdisciplinary technology entrepreneurship linking business, engineering, science and medicine across the USF Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Master of Science Degree in Entrepreneurship in Applied Technologies.

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Course Components Enterprise Training Components Environment

Engineer Development Roadmap Introduction to Engineering Design - Reverse Engineering Entrepreneurship Capstone Design Soft SkillsBusiness Skills Idea to the Market

Career Choice Employee Entrepreneur IntrapreneurEngineer Nascent Entrepreneur

Active Learning Environment

Prototype

Recommendations Universities should lead an entrepreneurship awareness campaign among its constituents Entrepreneurship should be promoted in the curriculum among engineering students before graduation Special and new regulations and policies should be established to protect and reduce the burden of entrepreneurs starting new businesses