RIYADH — A new initiative has been launched to support Saudi entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The initiative launched by the Ministry of Commerce, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), and the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat), in cooperation with the E-Commerce Council allows entrepreneurs and owners of SMEs to obtain a free online store with their commercial registration for a period of six months from the date of the request, and to register the Saudi domain.

The initiative aims to support SMEs and men and women entrepreneurs to set up online electronic stores and enable them to manage products and orders, link these electronic stores with companies, and provide e-payment services, shipping, and delivery. It also enables investors in the sector to expand and spread locally and globally.

Entrepreneurs can avail the initiative by visiting the "Mazaya" platform and registering themselves to take advantage of the benefits that include providing unlimited products and requests that reach a larger number of customers, receiving customer evaluation and support for their products, providing detailed reports for the online store, in addition to providing a link with the "Google" map services, adding the store's working team and assigning the powers of working teams.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) provides the Saudi domain registration service for advanced establishments, which includes advantages such as the credibility of the registered entity, the reliability of the domains, protecting the rights of registered entities, the safety of domain records, in addition to adopting the best security standards, and providing the Arabic domain names.

This initiative comes as part of the E-Commerce Council's efforts to support business owners and male and female entrepreneurs and encourage them to adopt the use of e-commerce as a major driver of sales, and take advantage of the potentials provided by e-commerce in reducing costs, enhancing competitiveness, expanding its scope, and expanding and spreading locally and globally. — SG