Year - 2020

Conclusion of ‘Calculate it Right’ Workshops: National Finance & Sharakah Initiative

19/10/2020

National Finance in collaboration with Fund for Development of Youth Projects (Sharakah) concluded the series of ‘Calculate it Right’ workshops recently as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility for the second consecutive year. The initiative focuses on enabling Entrepreneurs gain the right skills on financial management and proper resource planning.

A total of 10 Workshops were conducted using two different phases of learning style. The first six non-virtual Workshops were successfully carried out in Q4 of 2019 and Q1 of 2020 in 6 Willayat which included Al Seeb, Ibra, Nizwa, Barka, Sur and Sohar. The second phase of the workshops were conducted virtually via Advanced Zoom Platform in Q3 2020. Total number of attendees reached 250 from across Oman’Oman including other countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. The virtual Calculate-It-Right workshops enabled to attract a wider reach of interested attendees within Oman, across the borders and internationally.

‘Calculate- it -Right’ workshops were successfully executed by Sharakah. It looks into the fundamentals of financial management for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which includes calculating projects costs, sales assumptions and proper resources allocation. The workshops received a positive feedback from its participants, said Khalid Al Harthy, one of the attendees “The workshop is one of the well organized and effective workshops that I have attended. It is filled with valuable information and practical examples. I recommend everyone who is in the process of planning for a new business to attend”.

Marwa Al Mushafri, one of the attendees added saying: “By attending the workshop, I had the opportunity to learn the importance of formulating the concept of the project and converting it into a realistic idea that can be implemented. In addition to identifying the project`s strengths and weaknesses and apply better practices in times of crisis. Moreover, it is critical to make sure the project is fulfilling a missing need in the targeted market”.

Nawaf Al-Harthi added, saying “The workshop focused on aspects related to identifying resources required to manage businesses using case studies and practical examples to calculate costs and sales. I absolutely enjoyed the workshop and I look forward to attend more similar workshops in the future”.

Mr. Ajit Vasudevan, Head of Retail at National Finance Said: “National Finance is delighted to sponsor the series of ‘Calculate it Right’ workshops for the second consecutive year. We have seen the impact of the program in the 1st year, hence we decided to carry the program forward. The main purpose of this series is to enable and educate Entrepreneurs with the proper financial management skills to apply in their businesses. Moreover, it gives an opportunity for the participants to network with other business owners and have a direct contact with well experienced institutions in the field such as National Finance and Sharakah”

National Finance is the largest Finance and Leasing Company in the Sultanate of Oman. With 20 branches strategically located across the country and a diverse product suite, National Finance brings finance closer to the neighborhood of its Customers.

Sharakah and HSBC Bank Oman Renew the Joint Collaboration

24/09/2020

Fund for Development of Youth Projects, SAOC –“Sharakah” and HSBC Bank Oman SAOG announced the launch of the second edition of “Istidama” Program for SMEs. The renewal of the program comes as a result of the successful completion of the first edition that was held last year and was funded by HSBC Bank Oman as part of its corporate sustainability agenda aiming to contribute to enhancing the role of SME’s in the economy. Istidama program is managed and implemented by Sharakah in partnership with Destination Sustainability.

Sharakah has signed a cooperation agreement Yesterday with Destination Sustainability for assessing the sustainability aspects of the business. The agreement was signed by Mr. Dinkar Kishor, Deputy General Manager at Sharakah, and Shaima Al Lawati, Founder and General Manager of Destination Sustainability.

The program aims to take the selected SMEs through an intensive evaluation of their business performance and sustainability practices including identifying areas of improvement, which will be executed over a period of 6 months.

This second edition of the program will build on the success of its first edition, which received a very good feedback from the participants and has proven success in helping the enrolled SMEs in improving the sustainability practices within their businesses.

The selected SMEs will undergo a holistic evaluation with a focus on Sustainability practices. The aim is to support SMEs to operate professionally and apply the best sustainability practices. It is worth mentioning that the applications received will be filtered and the participant will be selected by panel consisting of representative from Sharakah, HSBC Bank Oman and Destination Sustainability.

Nabiha Al Mandhari, Marketing Specialist at Sharakah further commented “We encourage SMEs to utilize the opportunity to be part of the program for the sustainability of their businesses, registration is now open to all existing SMEs from all around Oman. Interested SME can register from: http://hsbc.sharakah.om. All interested candidates should fill the form with accuracy and authenticity information about the business before 3rd January 2021.”

Sharakah and HSBC Oman in partnership with Impact help young start-ups

09/09/2020

Sharakah has successfully conducted “Financial Structure for SMEs" Workshop recently for the selected candidates in Tahfeez, the Fourth Industrial Revolution Program for Entrepreneurs. The 4 day workshop has been designed, developed and implemented by Sharakah as part of the “Tahfeez Program” organized by Impact Integrated Company and by the support of HSBC Oman, as part of their corporate social responsibility [CSR] endeavours

The workshop is an extension of Tahfeez program, a 13 weeks training program targeting 26 young youths that highlights the skills of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the associated technologies. The program is based on intelligent blended learning, with the needed skills for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, complemented with every 3 week applied project. The courses and projects are based on monitoring and evaluation of the trainee’s performance, and online courses

The workshop focuses on the basics of project structure, cost and operating assumptions, along with the of governance concepts with examples matching the theme of Tahfeez. On the last day of the workshop, participants have successfully passed the closing challenge and learned the governance concepts for SMEs, they expressed their satisfaction and learnings from the program. The 4 day workshop in presented by Sharakah, helped them enhance the concept of financial and administrative structure as well as business aspect of any business venture.

Faris Al Harthy, Senior Project Specialist, who conducted the workshop further commented: “ we are glad to join hands together with Impact Integrated in implementing one of HSBC Oman’s corporate social responsibility endeavors, the positive feedback we received from the participants was indeed heartening and a sign of achieving the program objectives”

Sharakah, in partnership with bp Oman, help young Omani start-ups

03/09/2020

In partnership with bp Oman, Sharakah (Funds for the Development of Youth Projects) has recently launched the ‘Zaad Al Ruwad’ virtual workshop series to equip Omani entrepreneurs with the right knowledge and skills to start and manage a business.

Shamsa Al-Rawahiya, bp Oman Social Investment Manager, commented: “We’re hoping to help Omani entrepreneurs establish their own businesses in a practical manner by covering topics such as costs and resources required, as well as pricing for products and services. The workshops aim to provide entrepreneurs an understanding of managing real-life challenges and opportunities associated with having your own business.”

Umaima Al Ghadani, Sharakah Investment Manager, commented: “Sharakah has successfully delivered more than 30 ‘calculate it right’ workshops across the Sultanate. ‘Zaad Al Ruwad’ comes as a continuation of this work, with the same objectives and goals but with a more intensive and detailed approach to helping entrepreneurs.”

Targeted towards final year college students, start-up entrepreneurs and existing SME business owners, the first workshop was held in collaboration with Al Rudha; a bp Oman social investment partner. The remaining workshops will be implemented in association with other bp Oman social investment partners that have experience in supporting SMEs, including MEDRC, Tawasul, Youth Vision and Youth Sada.

Sharakah continues providing services and support to SMEs

09/07/2020

Sharakah continues providing its financial and advisory services and support to SMEs during the current pandemic that has adversely affected the world and global health system and economies have faced the brunt. Sharakah stands by the country during Covid19 Pandemic and have made an initiative to support the Omani SMEs to overcome the challenges of the impact of the Corona pandemic, by offering consultation and guidance in addition to benefits and relaxations to it’s SME clients, including deferment of payment to eligible SMEs with no additional charges. .

Sharakah adopts to the new situation and maintains contacts with it’s SME clients and conducts regular meetings using the new technologies, with the objective of providing the needed guidance and support. In addition, Sharakah recently held it’s first virtual “Calculate it Right” workshop with collaboration with National Finance Company. In addition, Sharakah has recently announced the commencement of it’s new workshop titled “Zaad Al Ruwad” in collaboration with BP Oman. This new workshop will also be conducted online and it will be a simulation of the real business opportunities and challenges and the way to deal with it. .

It is worth mentioning that Sharakah provides three different services, one is building awareness about entrepreneurship by conducting workshops and participating in local and international events, in addition there is the advisory services through which projects are evaluated to improve their performance to insure the sustainability of these businesses., also, Sharakah offers financial support, through three different schemes named Equity, Term loans and Bill Discounting , more details about Sharakah’s customized financial solutions in the website sharakah.om

Since establishment, Sharakah has supported more than 200 SMEs from different Governorates and in different sectors.. Sharakah aims to support Oman’s vision to diversify the economy, by encouraging the creation of SMEs, and developing and assisting in creating sustainable SMEs as they are the most dynamic drivers for the economy

Regarding to the facilities provided to Sharakah`s clients, Umaima Al-Ghadani ,Investment Manager at Sharakah commented: “

“Sharakah seeks to support the SMEs by providing the necessary financial and advisory support, we advise entrepreneurs to maintain flexibility to be adoptable to various situations, as well as reviewing and amending the strategies and plans of their projects in line with the current situations, and most importantly is to maintain health and safety procedures and measures to all Staff and Clients.”

Green line training institute provide 170 job opportunities for Omanis in different vocational Areas.

28/06/2020

Green line training institute in Boushar provide vocational training services that are linked with employment for Omanis in areas such as Mechanical Maintenance, Pumps and compressors maintenance, Lathing and metal forming and Operating Machine. The institute was founded in 2017 and since foundation it got the trust of different government and private entities to be accredited from entities such as Ministry of Manpower, the National Training Fund beside accreditation from the Institute of Motor Industry (IMI). Also became accredited by KUDOS Institute of Computer Services (IC3).

Mr. Ahmed Al Rashdi, founder of the institute says: the institute has provided 170 job for Omanis during the year 2019/2020 in different vocational and technical areas of which 100 has done their training successfully and has been already enrolled in the assigned companies, few are still getting training on-site after which they will be assigned to the prospective companies and the rest are continuing their training in the institute.

Mr. Muaath Ali Al Shihi, Investment Analyst in Sharakah said: Green Line Training Institute is one of the project that support the vision of the Sultanate in empowering Omani youth by giving them theoretical and practical training to enable them to work in different vocational areas which will definitely help increase Omanisation rates in the private sector and hence lower the dependence on expat vocational labors. empowering such projects is very essential to support Oman’s Economy.

The institute was granted a financial and consultancy assistance from Fund for Development of Youth Projects “Sharakah” during the last year which has contributed positively in the success and sustainability of the project which are of the main goals of Sharakah in supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) besides empowering entrepreneurial skills in the Sultanate and support SMEs to grow and be able to create more opportunities for Omani youth.

Sharakah Holds its EGM and AGM

24/06/2020

Sharakah held its Virtual Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the financial year ended 31st December, 2019 on 22nd of June. In line with the decisions of the Supreme Committee for dealing with the developments of COVID-19 pandemic and the directives of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. As per these instructions, companies were asked to hold their annual general meetings remotely as per the guidelines set by CMA using the latest technologies. The meeting was held via a platform set by Muscat Clearing and Depository (MCD) and presided by Mr. Hani bin Mohamed Al Zubair, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The meetings were attended by Sharaksa’s Shareholders, their representatives, Officials of concerned authorities, representative from Statutory Auditors M/s Moore, Legal Firm M/s Rehab Amer Law Firm and Sharakah staff.

The shareholders were briefed on Sharakah’s performance in 2019 along with discussing the meeting agenda. The AGM as well discussed and approved the Audited Financial Statements for the year 2019 and the appointment of Statutory Auditor M/s Moore for the financial year 2020.

Mr. Hani bin Mohamed Al Zubair, Chairman of the Board of Directors pointed out on Sharakah`s achievements during the previous year of 2019. He also extended Sharakah’s commitment to upholding the legacy and vision of our beloved late Sultan who believed in Omani youth, driving them towards community and economic development. As Sharakah was formed in 1998 to support Omani SMEs. Mr. Hani further added ensuring that the Board and Management of Sharakah, pledge their allegiance to our new Sultan His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq

He stated that since inception, Sharakah has served and nurtured the Omani SME community and has also been able to sustain itself. Over the last two decades, Sharakah has financially supported around 220 SMEs with investment of approximately OMR 6.7 million. Despite the challenges the world has faced, as an outcome of our sincere efforts, 2019 was a promising year for Sharakah.

“As stated in the Chairman’s Report of 2018, we have upheld our commitments resulting in substantial growth in our income and balance sheet. Sharakah’s Strategy for the next 5 years (2020-2024) has been reworked to meet the current market demand and aligned with Oman’s Vision 2040. We remain committed to the mandate given for supporting the SME community and thus helping the economy.” He added

Since election of Sharakah’s Board was due in 2020 the same was held during the AGM. The existing Board Members were re-elected unanimously. The name of the Board Members for 2020—22 are as under:

Mr. Hani Mohammed Al Zubair

Mr. Said Salim Al Sahib

Mr. Nasser Mohammed Al Hajiri

Mr. Pankaj Khimji

Mr. Hani Habib Abdul Nabi Macki

Mr. Rashad Jaffar Al Shaikh

Mr. Qais Mahmood Al-Khonji

Mr. Hani concluded by conveying his gratitude to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq and look forward to his guidance and support in our endeavor to promote Omani SMEs. He further expressed his congratulations to all the Shareholders for completing one more successful year together thanking them for their belief and trust in the Board of Directors and their continued support for Sharakah.

Series of ‘Calculate it Right’ Workshops: National Finance Company Initiative .

11/03/2020

National Finance, as part of its Social Investment Program, continues the series of ‘Calculate it Right’ Workshop in collaboration with Fund for Development of Youth Projects (Sharakah) across the country. The sixth session of the “Calculate it Right” workshop series was held last Tuesday at the Youth Training Center in Sur, As Sharqiyah South . This is the second consecutive year that the workshops are being held at all the major cities of Oman. Similarly, the workshop was held in January at the Radisson Blu in Sohar, Al Batinah North. The emphasize on enhancing the skills of human resources in the country makes it vital for corporate initiatives to focus its efforts towards the same. More importantly, SMEs are expected to play a key role in the economy’s growth. The initiative aims to enable and equip enterprising entrepreneurs with the right knowledge to help shape their business’s success.

The workshops, which is Sharakah’s copyright, covers the basis that helps understand financial requirements and how to calculate project cost, operational expenses, sales assumptions, required resources and the cost of capital in order to properly understand the profitability. The program is open to new owners looking for guidance on how to begin and even experienced owners who are looking to hone or improve their financial planning

The two workshops were coordinated with the support of National Finance team in both Sur and Sohar. Six out of a total of ten Calculate it Right workshops have been completed and the initiative will continue across different governates of Oman. Information for the coming workshops and registration form will be available on social media account of Sharakah and National Finance. Those who are interested to attend should follow the hash tag #Calculate_it_Right

15 SMEs Join Khazzan for SME Development Programme

26/01/2020

In partnership with BP Oman, Sharakah has selected the final 15 local small and medium enterprises to benefit from Khazzan for SMEs Development Programme. The total number of applications received for this batch of the programme was 214 applications with 105 completed applications and 109 incomplete applications. Where 80% of the completed applications were male applicants while only 20% were females. The highest number of applications received was from Muscat with 101 applications, while the lowest number of applications was from Musandam and Dhofar with 2 applications respectively..

Sharakah has recently conducted an orientation workshop introducing the programme and its milestones for the selected 15 SMEs for Khazzan for SMEs Development programme. The workshop was attended by representatives from Destination Sustainability, a local business that follows up the implementation of the programme, along with the selected SMEs.

It is worth mentioning that Sharakah and BP Oman signed an agreement last October to launch the fifth version of Khazzan for SMEs Development programme. The programme is a result of the previous four years of collaboration with BP Oman in developing Omani SMEs as part of their Social Investment programme that aims to support the growth of the Omani SMEs.

The applications received were filtered based on the criteria announced on the website. Preference was given for Riyada card holders. As well as those who have completed at least one year in the market.

Shamsa Al Rawahi, Social Investment Manager of BP Oman, commented saying: ‘In BP Oman we invest in entrepreneurs and start-ups to support the vibrant Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Sector in Oman. Through Khazzan for SMEs Development Programme we also try to create a link between our social investment initiatives and the supply chain of BP Oman. We hope that this programme addresses the topics of need to the targeted SMEs’
Halima Al Ryiami, Senior Project Specialist at Sharakah commented: “Khazzan project for SMEs Development aims at evaluating and assesing the performance of the 15 SMEs for a period of 12 months. We received applications representing different sectors of the Service sector (46%), the Trading Sector (37%), and the Manufacturing Sector (17%). We wish them all the best and we trust on their abilities to develop for their business growth”