Small businesses receive OMR5,000 grant from BP Oman

Muscat; Sharakah started the disbursement process of the grant provided by BP Oman to the selected 19 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that participated in the Khazzan Project for SME Development.
Twenty six SMEs participated in the programme this year from different Governorates including Ad Dhahirah, Ad Dakhiliyah, and Muscat. All of which have competed a two-months intensive programme on business strategic planning.
Khazzan project for SME Development is one of BP Oman’s social investment initiatives which aims to support the entrepreneurship development by assessing existing SMEs to identify their strength and weaknesses.
Further a business plan is developed for each business and agrant worth OMR5,000 from BP Oman is provided to help improve business performance for those who excel.
Over the past two weeks, experts from Sharakah (the programme supervisor) and inspired solutions (implementer) visited these SMEs to get a better understanding of the products and services that they offer and to get a better understanding of areas that needs improvement in their business operations.
The SMEs who participated in the programme represented different sectors including renewal energy field, oilfield services, telecommunications, nursery, plantation, dates processing, ladies gym, tour operator, photography and videography, motor garage, tailoring and selling of aluminium doors.
The programme focused on the following areas: business planning, cash flow management, market research, marketing and branding. By the end of the programme, each SME was able to develop a strategic plan for the years to come.
Commenting on this Shabib Al Maamari, Communications and External Affairs Manager of BP Oman said, “We are pleased to see that the programme has achieved its objectives and we are delighted that it has helped upgrading the quality of the SMEs who have participated. At BP, we believe in the importance of developing the local capacity and we value the role played by SMEs in economic and social growth.”
Abdullah Al Jufaili, Sharakah’s General Manager also commentedm “Sharakah values the trust given by BP Oman to supervise the implementation of this programme and we are glad that we have succeeded to deliver the intending objectives. The SMEs that enrolled in this program exhibited true entrepreneurial spirits. It was evident that they are very dedicated in growing their business and applying best practices.”
William R. Crew the Founder of Inspired Solutions said, “The competition for the grants was very intense, with 24 Omani SMEs competing for 19 non repayable growth grants of up to OMR5,000 each. The winning grantees were those who demonstrated the most initiative in completing their applications in a timely manner, had a clearly articulated vision for how they would use the BP-financed grants to grow their businesses, and had the most realistic approach to their projected performances. I would like to personally commend all of the applicants who graduated the training and coaching and competed; all of them are excellent examples of the entrepreneurial spirit we are fostering here in Oman.”