The Bahrain Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and ThinkSmart, in collaboration with the Bahrain SME Development Society, today announced the launch of an initiative for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kingdom of Bahrain. The initiative will provide eligible SMEs with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud skills training to help them become more innovative and grow at a faster rate. This initiative is aligned with Kingdom of Bahrain’s 2030 Vision and its Cloud First Policy, and aims to skill thousands of SMEs in Kingdom of Bahrain over the next three years and help them stay ahead in the digital economy.

At the helm of this initiative is ThinkSmart, a leading IT training provider with over two decades of training experience in the Kingdom. As an AWS training partner, ThinkSmart will work with training delegates to evaluate skill gaps, build a customized learning journey, and provide a comprehensive cloud training strategy. The program’s curriculum will cover the basics of the AWS Cloud and move to more advanced courses that will prepare participants toward achieving world recognized AWS Certifications. For Bahraini citizens, costs for certification exams will be covered by Tamkeen’s Individual Development Program.

On this occasion, Ms. Shaikha Abdullah Al Fadhel, SMEs Development Director at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, revealed: “This initiative shall be dedicated to SMEs Classification Certificate holders aiming to strengthen their capacities and boost their competitiveness”. She also added: “We believe that the initiative will enable SMEs to adopt Cloud Computing into their business strategy and head toward digital transformation which consequently increases their innovation and sustainability”.

Mr. Ahmed ALHujairy, Group CEO of Gulf Future Business, revealed. “This initiative is aimed at taking SMEs businesses to the next level – the Cloud, in accordance with Bahrain’s Cloud First Policy and the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030. The objective of this initiative is to educate Bahraini SMEs on Cloud Computing and enabling them to adopt Cloud into their business strategy and foster innovation and economic competitiveness in the Kingdom of Bahrain”. He also added “This project will lead Bahraini SME’s towards developing a strong infrastructure by adopting state of the art technology to aid them in the private sector.”

The first training will take place on February 27^th. To benefit from this program, Bahrain SMEs are encouraged to register their interest by visiting the website of the project –

SMEs Cloud Skilling Initiative