Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s Gulf International Bank (GIB) Sunday announced it will continue its partnership with Beehive, a regional fintech pioneer, to provide financing capabilities targeted at supporting micro and small-to-medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the oil-rich kingdom.
The strategic partnership, which initially began in 2020, created and brought to market a new digital GIB financing platform to ensure swift and efficient access to finance for this important and fast-growing business segment.
The platform is fully digital and includes a sophisticated online decision making and lending process to provide faster and more accessible financing. It provides Working Capital Finance, a flexible short-term solution to quickly improve cashflow for up to four months, or Term Finance for creditworthy MSMEs that wish to expand for a financing period of up to 36 months. Financing starts from SAR100,000 up to SAR3 million, with the platform having facilitated MSMEs in the kingdom since launch.
“We are very pleased to announce the continuation of our partnership with Beehive and plans to further strengthen our capabilities and financing facilities targeted towards MSME customers,”
Khaled Abbas, Group Wholesale Banking Head of GIB, said. “This has proven to be a great success. By streamlining access to financing, we have supported companies across this important segment of the market to accelerate their development and, in turn, enhance economic growth and the realisation of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals.”
Peter Tavener, Group CFO and COO of Beehive said that they are thrilled to continue working alongside GIB to provide MSMEs with better access to finance.
“We are confident that we can continue strengthening this essential part of Saudi Arabia’s economy,” Tavener said. “We are glad to see the drive towards fintech innovation and competition laid out by the Financial Sector Development Program to reach the 2030 objectives.”