Bpifrance and SIDF (Saudi Industrial Development Fund), a public financial institution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen economic cooperation between France and Saudi Arabia.

The cooperation agreement signed by Pascal Lagarde, executive director of Bpifrance in charge of international, strategy, research and development, and Dr. Ibrahim Saad Al-Mojel, managing director of SIDF, shows that two public institutions are willing to support and promote their development. Communicate in business development and economic cooperation, especially in financing and risk management, and promote the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem more widely.

Bpifrance and SIDF are joining forces to :

• Promote the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem related to SIDF’s intervention sectors in Saudi Arabia, especially the industrial, energy, logistics, and mining sectors;
• Promote the development of French companies operating or interested in the Saudi market;
• Carry out tasks, projects, and activities to optimize the connection between Bpifrance and SIDF in Saudi Arabia in order to establish a business partnership based on the existing ecosystem.

Dr. Ibrahim Saad Al-Mojel, Managing Director of SIDF said: “Together with Bpifrance, we want to ensure that our SMEs can develop their own activities. Through this partnership, we will be committed to nurturing and stimulating the SME ecosystem.”

Pascal Lagarde, Executive Director of Bpifrance, added: “We are pleased with this agreement, which paves the way for fruitful exchanges between our two institutions, with the aim of creating opportunities for both companies in financing, guarantees, and exports. « 

The two partners have already cooperated within the Montreal Group, which is hosted by Pascal Lagarde, led by the Commercial Development Bank of Canada (BDC), and cooperates with eight other international partners, development banks, and SME financing organizations.

Two players committed to supporting business growth

The French sovereign wealth fund Bpifrance is mainly committed to cooperating with sovereign wealth funds and major international institutional investors to make direct and indirect investments and provide foreign institutions with a wide range of international stocks. Bpifrance is also one of the major investors in France and Europe. It has directly or indirectly invested more than 2.5 billion euros in the French ecosystem. In Africa, Averroès Africa launched a new fund on October 8, 2020.

Bpifrance supports foreign countries or institutions, especially those in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, to help them create or develop their own tools to finance their economies:

• To help innovative companies emerge and grow, and to build tools to support and fund projects (build seed funds, create a series of innovative and innovative products, innovative project evaluation grids, etc.).
• To develop employment-creating entrepreneurial ecosystems by facilitating SMEs/VSEs to obtain bank credits (for example, creating or optimizing guarantee funds to generate real leverage).

The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) was established by the government with a capital of 28 billion U.S. dollars. It plays a leading role in Saudi Arabia’s industrial development.

SIDF is the financial operator of the National Industrial Development Plan (NIDLP), which is one of the most important plans in the « Vision 2030 » plan to attract investment and transform the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into a leading industrial power and global logistics center. NIDLP supports the Saudi manufacturing industry by providing medium and long-term financial loans, consulting solutions, and the development of ecosystem human capital. In mid-2019, SIDF amended its charter to allow it to provide loans to key sectors that were not previously within its mandate: mining, energy, and logistics services.