QDB’s direct lending to SMEs reaches QR9bn: CEO Al Khalifa

The direct lending portfolio of Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has reached QR9bn, said the Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned Bank, Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, at an international event, yesterday. 

Al Khalifa also said that QDB is committed to providing all the needful support to SMEs and startups with innovative business ideas, and Qatar is the ideal destination to expand their operations given its geographical location, world-class infrastructure like airports, seaports, high-speed internet, and easy access to capital, business-friendly environment and the right ecosystem for growth.    

“The accessibility to finance is one of the biggest challenges SMEs face. And we have solved this problem by providing direct lending to such business ideas and startups. Our debt portfolio currently is around QR9bn, which is growing steadily,” Al Khalifa said during his address at a webinar hosted by Atlantic Council, the US-based think tank which provides a forum for international business, political, and intellectual leaders.

Al Khalifa added: “We have several debt instruments and partial loan guarantee programmes. We also provide subsidised lending to important sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and livestock. These sectors played a big role in enabling Qatar to be resilient during the post-blockade era by boosting their output/production locally by utilising technology.” 

During his address at the webinar, Al Khalifa provided a comprehensive introduction of the QDB’s major activities and achievements since its inception in 1997.  

The QDB CEO, who is also the Chairman of the Qatar Business Incubation Centre, also highlighted its various programmes such as Injaz under which QDB plants the seeds of entrepreneurship right from the school. It taps talented students with innovative ideas and translates them into projects and eventually into successful businesses. 

Commenting on other loan programmes, he said: “In addition to direct lending, we also engage with the local banks to provide funding through them and QDB guarantees the exposure of the entrepreneurs with the partner banks, which has a portfolio of about QR1.2bn”. 

During his presentation Al Khalifa also mentioned that QDB, as part of Qatar’s economic support programme to SMEs to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been mandated with an additional QR2bn to QR5bn to guarantee financial support.

According to a recent report by The Peninsula, QDB has already issued support guarantees to more than 3,500 companies since the announcement of the incentive programme early this year.

“One of the biggest issues that startups face in the Middle East is the accessibility to funding through equity, VCs (venture capital) and PEs (private capital), which is a market heavily under-served in the region. This is hindering the development of ecosystem itself. And we at QDB are addressing it through different ways, including export credit agency model by providing Qatari goods an access to local and international markets,” he explained. 

The webinar was hosted by Amjad Ahmad, Director and Resident Senior Fellow, empowerME at Atlantic Council.