The Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha'at) has released its SME Monitor report for Q3 2024, which highlighted recent developments in the Kingdom’s dynamic SME ecosystem, from the increased number of commercial registrations, 135,909, to a special chapter on its burgeoning publishing industry, which now has over 500 local publishing houses bringing Saudi and other Arabic-language authors to new audiences.
The report showed that since the launch of the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission in 2020, the Kingdom’s publishing industry has seen growth across a number of key metrics, from the number of publishing houses to the 2.2 million visitors that attended Saudi book fairs in 2023.
Notably, the Riyadh International Book Fair 2024, the commission’s flagship event, featured works from over 30 countries and 2,000 publishing houses, helping attract over a million visitors and delivering $7.5 million in book sales.
The report also highlighted key initiatives by the commission to empower Saudi SMEs and entrepreneurs to become better literary agents, forge literary partnerships with civil society and local cafés, learn and adopt best practices from international publishing houses, and develop better professional print and digital-facing publishing skills.
As a key enabler of the local publishing sector, efforts by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission have been key to this progress, the report showed.
“The commission has launched five business accelerators that have benefitted over a hundred SME projects whose average revenues increased by 20% and created 115 new permanent jobs,” said its CEO Dr. Mohammed Hasan Alwan.
“Thanks to 54 public and private partnerships, the Kingdom has been able to attract regional and global publishing houses to the Saudi market to enrich local production, enable diverse experiences, and enhance the local market’s professionalism and competitiveness,” Alwan added.
In its survey of broader SME developments across Saudi Arabia, the report also revealed a notable uptick in commercial registrations in Q3 2024, a key indicator of the country’s robust entrepreneurial landscape. In addition to a quarter-over-quarter growth, the 135,909 new registrations marked a significant year-over-year increase. Almost half of these registrations came from female entrepreneurs, and nearly 40% were from young business owners, highlighting the extensive impact of the Kingdom’s diversification efforts.
Thanks to the variety of enablement, financing, franchising, innovation, and business development programs offered by Monsha’at, more than 25,000 Saudi SMEs also benefitted from the Kingdom’s chief SME enabler in Q3 2024, the report showed.
