TOTAL E&P Qatar is to support Qataris who want to launch small businesses, a senior official of the company said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting with former students of the Social Development Centre for Small and Medium Projects, Yohan Chouchene, market research analyst at Total’s Small and Medium Enterprises, said the company would provide know-how, technologies and advice on developing business. According to Chouchene, Total has seven years of services directed at helping French and European companies set up business in Qatar. “We are now seeking ways to support Qataris.” According to the official, the first step would entail meeting with project owners and sharing views about ways of co-operation. The service would be limited to few companies, he said. He noted that the bureau did not have any patent programme for offering support, and the service would look into each case separately. Dominique Gueudet, education and social responsibility manager, said Total can help the entrepreneurs by providing the right contacts and advise in different aspects of starting and running enterprises in fields like health, innovation in technology domains and sustainable development. He said that new French universities were co-ordinating with Total and Qatar Foundation to set up branches in Doha. One of them is the French Petroleum Institute and the second was a French management university. This new service provided for Qatari entrepreneurs is the outcome of a partnership between Commercialbank and the Social Development Centre. This partnership has resulted in setting up of the Development Centre for Small and Medium Projects (Tanmia), which trains and supports small business owners. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=272110&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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