OABC Chairman, Ali Daud, has announced today a one-year sponsorship of 13 startup companies while on a visit to the Sas Incubator at Knowledge Oasis Muscat.

U.S. Ambassador Greta C. Holtz and Dr. Salim Ruzaiqi, CEO of Information Technology Authority (ITA), joined over 20 members of the OABC to meet Omani small business owners for a tour of the Sas Entrepreneurship Program to learn about ITA’s SME Incubator and its Virtual Reality Training Center, as well as to hear from the start-ups currently housed in its office space. The Sas Program aims to develop strong, local, innovative IT entrepreneurs who contribute to job creation and diversified growth for the Omani economy.

Ali Daud, the OABC Chairman, stated, “Alongside OABC’s current SME initiatives, I am proud to announce that I will sponsor membership for 13 SMEs from the Sas Incubator to join OABC for one year. I believe this period will be beneficial for both SMEs from Sas and current OABC members, who will get a chance to meet local talent and appreciate the services they provide. On behalf of OABC, I would like to warmly welcome our new members and encourage you to take full advantage of all the opportunities OABC will offer, including events, networking, and a chance to meet senior management from well-known local and multinational companies.”

The OABC Board of Directors encourages its members to participate in the CSR initiatives available in Oman, particularly when it comes to supporting entrepreneurship. During Global Entrepreneurship Week last November OABC launched an SME mentoring program in which OABC members – senior and top managers – volunteer their time to meet one-on-one with Omani entrepreneurs to develop business plans, share knowledge, and discuss best practices for operating businesses.

Fouad Eid, one of the Directors of the OABC Board from Dover Middle East, commented, “Half a year ago I decided to volunteer as a mentor for OABC SME Mentoring initiative. I meet my mentee once a month for one hour only, but we have already made some progress and I proud of the results she is achieving. I would encourage small and medium entrepreneurs to explore this opportunity; all they have to do is fill out a short form on our website and send it to us along with their CV. OABC has plenty of senior managers who are eager to mentor and give back to the Omani community”.

Additional opportunities offered by OABC include sponsorship of entrepreneurs to attend the annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit, hosting a “Best Internship Practices” workshop at SQU’s Career Fair, organizing a recent labor law workshop with SASLO Legal Training Center (SLTC), as well a Speed Networking event which successfully gathered more than 70 businesspeople for high-impact networking over an hour and a half.

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