Tamkeen announces the launch of its 2026 – 2030 strategy and celebrates its 20th anniversary

The Labour Fund “Tamkeen” announced the launch of its new strategy for 2026 – 2030 during a press conference, outlining its vision for the next phase of growth. The event also highlighted Tamkeen’s key achievements over the past two decades since its inception, underscoring its pivotal role in driving national development and empowering the private sector to serve as the main engine of Bahrain’s economy. 

The new strategy was unveiled with a focus on directing support toward priority sectors and future skills. This approach is intended to maximize the impact of support and generate positive returns with direct benefits for the national economy and Bahrainis in line with national priorities and the evolving requirements of the next phase of development. 

The press conference was held on the sidelines of an eventorganized by the Labour Fund “Tamkeen”, and attended by ministers, chief executives and business leaders from both the public and private sectors. During the event, details of the 2026 – 2030 strategy were unveiled in addition to the achievements of the past two decades, reflecting the significance of the occasion in unifying efforts, supporting national priorities and achieving the desired economic impact. 

During the press conference, Her Excellency Ms. Maha Abdulhameed Mofeez, Chief Executive of the Labour Fund “Tamkeen”, affirmed that over the past twenty years the fund played a vital role in fostering an enabling environment for private sector growth and development. This has been achieved through strategic investments in developing national talent and enhancing workforce capabilities, alongside supporting enterprises with opportunities that enable them to expand, compete, and achieve long-term sustainability. 

Her Excellency noted that over the past two decades, “Tamkeen” has contributed more than BHD 2.6 million to the national economy through direct and indirect financing. Tamkeen’s programs have supported over 300,000 opportunities to support Bahrainis and more than 92,000 opportunities to support enterprises across various sizes and sectors. In addition, the Labour Fund has facilitated financing approximately BHD 920 million in loans and funding support. 

Her Excellency also reviewed the key features of Tamkeen’s 2026 – 2030 strategy, which is built around four main priorities: prioritizing areas with the highest returns for the economy and Bahrainis; supporting the design of career pathways through initiatives that link skills with available labor market opportunities, adopting innovative approaches to stimulate private sector growth and access to financing; and delivering programs that enhance the Fund’s operational effectiveness and efficiency, while further strengthening governance. She also highlighted that the strategy was developed using a multi-faceted methodology, including an assessment of Tamkeen’s current position, incorporating feedback from beneficiaries, benchmarking against regional and international best practices and analyzing future trends, in addition to developing a labor market supply-and-demand model ensuring sustainable impact for the national economy and local talent. 

For her part, Ms. Alya Al Aali, Deputy Chief Executive for Strategy and Insights at the Labour Fund “Tamkeen”, noted that the priorities for the 2026 – 2030 will be translated into a bundle of carefully designed initiatives to ensure the achievement of the desired positive impact, guided by clear performance standards and defined measurement indicators. She also highlighted that work is underway to launch the “Tamkeen Bahrain” mobile application, which will offer an integrated digital experience aimed at facilitating access to services and enhancing the beneficiary experience. 

For his part, Mr. Khalid Al Bayat, Deputy Chief Executive of Program Design and Delivery at the Labour Fund “Tamkeen”, noted that newly developed programs currently under design will be announced in the coming period, ensuring their alignment with the new strategic priorities and the evolving needs of the labor market, both present and future. 

Mr. Al Bayat also added that “Tamkeen” will operate under an updated structure for its programs and initiatives, centered on achieving qualitative indicators across six key objectives: developing and enhancing the skills of Bahrainis, enabling access to the labor market, providing incentives for employment and career progression, supporting the launch of startups, driving the growth and expansion of Small and Medium Enterprises and reinventing business models. 

This marks the Labour Fund’s sixth strategic cycle, as “Tamkeen” continues to update its strategy, directions and priorities to ensure alignment with evolving labor market dynamics and needs. The aim is to meet the requirements of the private sector and strengthen its capacity for growth and expansion, while empowering local talent and enhancing their active role in driving economic development and achieving the desired economic impact.