‘Go greener, yield more returns’: be’ah

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‘Go greener, go more sustainable and yield more returns’ was the slogan at the launch of the second edition of Eco-Innovate (EIO), the flagship accelerator programme for Omani businesses seeking to make their commercial operations even greener by the Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (be’ah).

EIO is a business accelerator programme that helps to develop the skills sets and growth trajectories of Omani SMEs that aspire to green their businesses, fight climate change, and maximise financial, environmental, and social returns in the wider vision that the world is moving towards a green economy to fight climate change.

Speaking to the Observer, Dr Farah al Barwani, Research and Development Manager at Environmental Centre of Excellence in be’ah said that a large number of Omani SMEs and corporates have been doing wonderfully good in the transformation of their businesses into greener entities for a sustainable future.

“It’s all about working together to achieve the common goals of a greener economy and help oneself to be helped for a wider result. Large international companies are including sustainability in their tendering decisions while the governments and others are adopting similar approaches,” she said.

EIO aims to increase the level of competitiveness among Omani SMEs enabling them to compete locally and internationally as investors are looking for innovative sustainable SMEs to invest in. EIO initiative will train Omani SMEs to evaluate their operations and their value chains using Greenhouse Gas (GHG) accounting which is considered the first step in identifying ways to make their operations greener and more sustainable.

“We help these SMEs and other corporates in investment, product development, and providing signposts as to how and where to begin and how to progress and how to achieve the desired goals in their business as we continue our journey towards Green Economy through this foster adaption of Sustainable Best Practices among Omani SMEs.”

Launched in December of 2019, the first Eco-Innovate Oman (EIO) contributed to accelerating the skills sets of SME owners working in the waste management, resource recovery, and other eco-conscious sectors.

“Sustainable Best Practices are increasingly becoming a litmus test for doing business with large multinational companies and governments and for attracting funding from equity investors,” said William Crew, CEO of Inspired Solutions, adding that “SMEs will embrace sustainable business practices within their organisations, and become more competitive which will open up new horizons for SMEs growth through this programme”.