Challenges Facing Saudi SMEs since the Launch of Vision 2030

Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) are important drivers of economic development but they still face many obstacles today. Saudi Arabia has launched the strategic plan Vision 2030 in 2016 with the goal of decreasing unemployment and diversifying its economy. The aim of this thesis is to identify and characterise the various challenges confronting SMEs in Saudi Arabia since the launch of their development plan Vision 2030 in 2016. For this purpose, I conducted a deep literature review accompanied by further data analysis. The most common barrier was of financial nature, the lack of funding and high costs of loans has made it difficult for SMEs to get credit. Furthermore, Saudi SMEs have difficulties finding high-skilled labour because of Saudization in addition to the complex regulatory environment and the problems with infrastructure. Nonetheless, some initiatives and improvements have been made to decrease these barriers.