Tamkeen holds it first Board Meeting in 2012

Tamkeen Board of Directors recently held its first meeting in 2012 headed by Tamkeen’s Chairman HE Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa at Tamkeen’s premises in Beit Al Tijjar. The agenda included a review of the financial statements for 2011, operational plan and public consultations around it, National Audit Court report, reports of the various Board committees, and administrative reports.

Board members reviewed the feedback from the public consultations Tamkeen held with its stakeholders to discuss its 2012 operational plan. The sessions, held over the past two months, included beneficiaries, local media, legislators, government agencies, business people, youths, and banking sector, among others. Upon review, the Board directed Tamkeen’s executive management team to follow up on and take into consideration the feedback received from the stakeholders.

The Board then discussed financial matters, including reviewing and approving the 2011 financial statements, and examining the report prepared by the Audit Committee appointed by the Board. 

The financial statements showed a drop in Tamkeen’s revenues, which is attributed to the suspension of the monthly labour fees paid to LMRA on non-Bahraini workers from 1 April 2011, and decrease in LMRA fees allocated to Tamkeen from 80% to 50% back in October 2011. The independent external auditor further confirmed that the financial statements were free of material misstatement.

This was followed by an update on the implementation of the recommendations put forth by the National Audit Court Report for 2010, which showed that Tamkeen has so far implemented 90% of those recommendations. The remaining recommendations of the report are in progress.

The meeting concluded with the Board reappointing Rodl Middle East as the external auditor for the third successive year, and a review of a report on Tamkeen's performance in the last quarter of 2011 and the 2011 annual report.

Sh. Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa expressed his satisfaction with the progress made by Tamkeen in the development of the private sector, and stressed the need for more support to the private sector to help it overcome its various challenges.

Furthermore, Sh. Mohammed also said that Tamkeen’s needs to continue working closely with the various organisations concerned to ensure the comprehensiveness of various private sector developmental efforts.

Tamkeen Board of Directors consists of 9 members representing the organisations which spearhead the development of the private sector, with 3 members representing the public sector and 6 the private sector divided as follows: Government (Sh. Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa and Abdulellah Al-Qassimi), Economic Development Board (Dr. Zakaria Hejres), Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Mr. Khalid Al-Amin, Mr. Isa Abdulrahim, and Mr. Kadhim Al Saeed), General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (Mr. Sayyid Salman Mahfoodh and Mr. Mohammed Abdulrahman), and Bahrain Association of Banks (Abdulkarim Bucheery).   

The meeting was also attended by Tamkeen Chief Executive Mr. Mahmood Hashem Al-Kooheji and Tamkeen’s Executive Management team.