Oman opens the door for growth-mindset talents

The cornerstone of every civilisation that has ever risen is talent. More than a millennium ago, the Islamic Golden Age offered the world a powerful demonstration of this truth. In the scholarly circles of House of Wisdom, Arab philosophers debated Greek logic, drawing on Mesopotamian science, translated by Jewish and Sabian scholars, refined by Persian and Turkish authors, and commissioned by Muslim rulers. That civilization did not thrive because of its geography or its gold. It thrived because it gathered the brightest minds of its age and gave them the freedom and purpose to work together.
Today, while many analysts remain fixated on the race for rare earth mineral corridors and energy routes, a more decisive shift is underway. Institutions such as the World Economic Forum, alongside global research by McKinsey & Company, are converging on a far more consequential conclusion. The defining contest among nations will not be fought over land or resources. It will be fought over talent.
The data is increasingly difficult to ignore. According to the Boston Consulting Group, more than 2.4 million highly skilled professionals crossed borders in 2025 alone, reflecting an intensifying global competition to attract human capital. This is not simply migration. It is a strategic reallocation of capability, where nations are actively competing to host the individuals who will shape their economic futures.
The winners in this contest are no accident. Our neighboring UAE has climbed to ninth place in the IMD World Talent Ranking, driven by fast visa processing, regulatory flexibility, and tax-free income structures. Singapore has taken a more targeted approach, introducing its Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass, designed to attract elite professionals with monthly earnings exceeding approximately RO 8,400. The programme has already drawn thousands of top-tier individuals. As one Singaporean minister put it, talent is their only resource, and acquiring it is an offensive strategy.
Against this backdrop, a quietly significant development has emerged from the Sultanate of Oman. The completion of the foundational phase of the Promising Omani Startups Program which aims by 2028 to support an ecosystem of 500 startups through 100 investment rounds and more than 35 incubators and accelerators, alongside the introduction of the Startup Experts Visa and Residency Incentives by the Royal Oman Police, signals a deliberate and strategic shift. This is not policy for its own sake. It is positioning.
The numbers from the programme’s first phase offer a credible starting point. Oman now hosts 205 technology and innovation-based startups with a combined market value of approximately RO 152 million. These ventures have generated 549 jobs for young Omanis, while 78 companies secured investment across 2024 and 2025. Notably, 22 startups have reached valuations exceeding RO1.9 million. In a region where startup ecosystems often struggle to move beyond early-stage momentum, these figures suggest something more structural is beginning to take shape.
The newly introduced visa initiative rests on three interconnected pillars. The first is attracting world-class experts in economic development. These are not individuals who merely generate ideas, but those capable of building systems, scaling ventures, and embedding a growth mindset across an ecosystem. The second pillar focuses on empowering startups through a flexible legislative framework that lowers friction and enables innovation to move from concept to commercialisation. The third pillar, and perhaps the most consequential, is positioning Oman as a destination of choice for venture capital and entrepreneurial investment, sending a clear signal to global markets that the Sultanate is open, competitive, and serious.
This three-pillar approach mirrors the playbooks of nations that have already secured early advantages in the talent race. Singapore built its edge by combining long-term residential stability with professional flexibility, allowing top talent to operate across multiple ventures. The UAE complemented speed with economic incentives, issuing visas in days and aligning financial structures to make relocation an attractive decision. Oman’s Startup Experts Visa borrows from both models, but adapts them to its own context by embedding them within a startup-driven framework.
There is a deeper historical parallel worth noting. When the Abbasid Caliph Al Ma’mun established the House of Wisdom, he was not merely investing in knowledge. He was investing in people. He created an environment where scholars from diverse cultures and disciplines could contribute, collaborate, and innovate. The result was not incremental progress, but a civilisational leap.
Oman’s new initiative is not a replication of that moment, nor should it be. But it reflects the same underlying principle. Nations that make themselves a home for exceptional minds consistently outperform those that do not. Talent compounds. It attracts more talent, generates innovation, and builds resilience in ways that no natural resource can replicate.
The implications are clear. The global economy is shifting from a resource-based competition to a capability-based one. In such a landscape, policies that attract, retain, and empower talent are not optional. They are foundational.
The war for talent is not a future scenario. It is already underway and the Sultanate with measured intent and growing clarity, has stepped onto the ring.

Khalid al Huraibi The writer is an innovator and an insights storyteller