It is a common refrain by consultants in the Middle East: nurture small to medium enterprises to generate employment.
 
But while regional governments in principle have acknowledged the importance of developing an SME sector, the execution has been far from satisfactory.

 This is especially true in so-called Arab Countries in Transition (ACT) such as Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Lebanon, where SMEs have failed to get the attention they deserve as the countries face tremendous upheaval.