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A unified SME digital platform was launched at an event in Tripoli on Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with the Libya Herald on the digital platform, the Director General of the National Programme for Small and Medium Enterprises, Abdel Nasser Bouzgia, said that SME and the creative ideas of young people for various projects need the uniting of efforts between the various state institutions concerned with supporting and assisting these projects that serve youth in the first place and the national economy in general.
Unified SME digital platform
Therefore, he explained, a search was conducted for the ideal mechanism to support SMEs through a unified digital platform that brings them together with the parties concerned with support and financing, headed by the Central Bank of Libya.
The digital platform to act as an SME database
Bouzgia added that the digital platform will be a base for collecting information and data on small and medium enterprises available for support and financing. These would be SMEs whose idea have matured and are ready to be launched in the labour market, enter competition, and move from just a pioneering idea to a real business project that achieves a financial return for its owner.
AI, chatbot and Lybot technology
Referring to his presentation on the SMEs Ecosystem at the launch event, Bouzgia said the SME digital platform would provide all services to pioneers and owners of emerging and existing projects using artificial intelligence (AI), in which service seekers are interacted with and interact using chatbot technology, as well as the use of the lybot mobile application.
Central Bank of Libya to offer increased finance
Bouzgia stressed the readiness of the Central Bank of Libya to offer financial support. This was confirmed by the presentation at the launch event by the Director of the SME Unit at the Central Bank of Libya, who explained the expansion of the proposed financing mechanisms and the unified classification of SME.
He said at this stage, the Central Bank is focusing on ways to finance SMEs and other financing agencies as a contribution to diversifying Libya’s sources of income and reducing dependence on the public sector, which suffers from overcrowding of jobs and increases government spending on salaries.
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Minister of Economy and Trade discussing financing opportunities for SMEs (libyaherald.com)
Labour Ministry adopts SME’s economic empowerment programme (libyaherald.com)
Libya Enterprise to discuss barriers to SME finance with local banks (libyaherald.com)
