By Kabeer Yousuf — MUSCAT: April 15 - SME participants in the race for the 3rd Entrepreneurship Award instituted by Riyada in association with the Public Authority for SME Development (PASMED) will be offered with an assortment of benefits both technical as well as administrative supports to help grow in the local and international markets, according to Abeer Abdullah Mohammed, Project Consultant, Entrepreneurship Award. Speaking to the Observer on the sidelines of the first nationwide workshop at the Hormuz Grand, Abeer said the award aims at manifold benefits for the SME sector of the Sultanate.
“The Entrepreneurship Award aims on the quality and not the quantity and participating in the award is not for judging an SMEs winning aspects, but to encourage them to raise the standard bar continuously and help them thrive for better aims in the course of business,” she said.
Within the award, the judging team will pick the best practices, whether he is a winner or not.
Later on, the team will help them better market and that will be the advantage of participating in the award race.
“By going through the experience, facing the assessors, preparing the documents based on the international criteria will develop the organisation, the SME itself by developing the quality. By answering the online questions, the individuals are better equipped to do a self-check and to work on their mission, vision, processes and other aspects of business,” said Abeer, who oversaw the workshop conducted by Badriya.
“The benefits for the participants include, first of all learning. By going through the lessons of the European Foundation of Quality Management model which is a prerogative for participating in the contest, each Omani SME owner will be exposed to some international benchmarking practices.”
Secondly, it’s a marketing platform for the SMEs in the country. The third one is the constant development and improvement of the organisation. SMEs will be understanding the areas and scopes for development of the business and the report will be generated by the assessors. Then it will help the youngsters have a free consultation for the business growth.
“The last one is actually helping you challenge yourself. You also evaluate yourself how to present your business in the international arena. Many of them came back to us and participated in many other contests with better skills and understanding,” Abeer added.
The winners of this year’s edition of Entrepreneurship Award will receive two types of benefits. A technical support and financial benefit. This edition’s financial benefit for the winners is increased and the minimum is RO 3,000 and the maximum is RO 12,000.
“It’s all about collaboration and the award is designed towards the new direction of the country supporting SME organisations in the country,” said Abeer.
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