The SME sector is poised to have a better outlook in 2023 compared to 2022 as per plan outlay of the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
The Authority's press briefing covered various points related to enable and ensure the sustainability of SMEs in term of growth, development, financing and investment, as well as prominent performance indicators.
“The annual press conference stems from the principle of transparency and clarity in delivering correct information and indicators to the public from its official sources, and considering the media as an active partner in supporting the advancement of the small and medium enterprises sector in the Sultanate of Oman,” Abdulaziz bin Said al Raisi, Vice-President of the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development, said.
Al Raisi also rolled out a number of programmes for honing the skills of entrepreneurs, including Entrepreneur Readiness Programme to upgrade the efficiency of owners of SMEs wishing to get financing.
As per indicators, the total number of SMEs registered in the Sultanate of Oman until September 2022 numbered 210,877, while the number of SME registered with the Authority reached 104,141 in December 2022. The number of active enterprises that obtained the entrepreneurship card reached 37,489. During 2022 a total of 28,445 entrepreneurship cards were issued for the first time, while renewal requests for the card amounted to 20,113.
The entrepreneurship card features a document that enables its holder to obtain a package of facilities, incentives, and exemptions in various sectors from the relevant government and private agencies, and their most important objectives are based on supporting SME by providing these concessions. The authority also revealed that it received more than 200 applications for usufruct right in 10 industrial schemes announced by the authority in 2022 of which 35 applications were approved.
Younis bin Mohammed al Nasri, Assistant Vice-President for Finance and Investment of ASMED, mentioned that the number of financing applications submitted electronically reached 203, of which from more than 20 applications were approved, until the end of 2022, with a total value of more than RO 2.3 million.
The authority has also paid attention to entrepreneurs by organising a number of programmes that enhance the skills of entrepreneurs, the most important of which is the Entrepreneur Readiness Programme, which it implemented in all governorates.
There were 56 groups in various governorates that underwent the programme, and the number of participants reached about 1,179 in four tracks, which are establishment, promotion, advanced, and contracts. The number of passers-by who completed the requirements of the programme reached 1,057 participants.
This is in addition to the in-country value programmes and initiatives for SME with the creation of opportunities and partnerships for owners of enterprises.
The authority revealed that the number of SME and startups incubated in its various business incubators is 56.
In order to activate the regulation of business incubators, the Authority announced the granting of licenses to six business incubators, in the field of empowering artisans and owners of innovative ideas.
It also reviewed the most important indicators for the financing and investment sector for the year 2022 by facilitating financial procedures for SME, and it was with Muscat Stock Exchange, the Ministry of Finance, the Gulf Travel Company, the Oman Center for Financial and Credit Information “Mala’a”, the Omani-Saudi Committee, and the Public Authority for Social Insurance. With nine training workshops aimed at spreading the culture of innovative financing, in which more than 250 entrepreneurs participated.
The financing requests submitted electronically amounted to 203 applications, and more than 20 applications were approved until the end of 2022, with a total amount of more than RO 2,300,000, noting that the start of receiving financing applications took place in June 2022.
Sanad services centres fall under the financing and investment sector, and the statistics indicate that the total transactions completed through the electronic portal of Sanad services centres amounted to 1,737,825 transactions, while the number of new services provided through the centres reached 45 services in 893 centres distributed in all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, and these centres provided more than 2,700 job opportunities for Omanis.
Out of the Authority's keenness and interest in the category of job-seekers, it has worked on the on-the-job training initiative in order to strengthen SME with national cadres and create job opportunities. The initiative came in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour for the second year in a row, in an effort to provide cost-supported young national talent from job-seekers by subjecting them to specialised training programmes on the job, which will contribute to enhancing their employability by providing them with the required professional skills.
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