Kuwait – 20 February 2017: Gulf Bank was pleased to lead a training session for participants in the Fikra Program, a non profit initiative that helps youth transform ideas into businesses. The Bank's session was on non-financial analysis and was conducted on Thursday, 16 February 2017, in Al Hamra Tower.

Mr. Omar Al-Muhaisen, Relationship Manager – Business Banking at Gulf Bank, led the training and focused on helping the participants understand techniques to conduct analyses of and make informed strategic directions about how to establish their businesses.

The tools Mr. Al-Muhaisen focused on were Porter's five forces and SWOT analysis.  Porter five forces are used to analyse the competitive environment within an industry, often focusing on external forces, while a SWOT analysis tends to look more deeply within an organization to analyse its internal potential.

Directly after the session, participants were surveyed and the responses were positive, with 100% of the attendees indicating that they understood the subject better after attending.  100% also said the trainer answered their questions; 80% said they had benefitted from the session while 20% were neutral.

Highlighting the benefits of the training, one of the participants stated: "I would like to thank Gulf Bank and Omar Al-Muhaisen for conducting this training. It has helped me to be better able to position my project and analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within the market. The trainer brought great energy and knowledge to the session and Gulf Bank has been encouraging us every step of the way."

The main goal of Fikra Program is to empower a new generation of entrepreneurs to develop successful businesses and advance the local Kuwaiti market. It is an intensive entrepreneurship training that provides aspiring entrepreneurs with the technical skills and business knowledge needed to launch their own businesses such as leadership skills, comprehensive business plan, investment opportunities and others.

Fikra is a non-profit program designed by Cubical Services- business incubator. It aims at turning young people's ideas into business projects and to help the youth achieve their aspirations and to overcome the obstacles of implementation. The program is supported by a range of governmental agencies and companies from the private sector in Kuwait and they are: the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, the National Fund for SMEs Development, Hamra Tower, Markaz, and Gulf Bank.

Gulf Bank's sponsorship of Fikra comes as part of its corporate social responsibility program. The Bank is strongly committed to giving back to Kuwait as it supports numerous events and initiatives focusing on youth, education, health and fitness, helping the underprivileged, women's empowerment, as well as promoting Kuwait's heritage and culture.

For more information on Gulf Bank, please visit one of Gulf Bank's 56 branches, call the Customer Contact Center on 1805805, log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank's bilingual website, or visit its social media channels.