Celebrating the conclusion of the HSBC Bank Oman’s Istidama Program for SME’s Development in association with Sharakah, a graduation ceremony was held yesterday under the auspices of Hani al Zubair, Chairman of Fund for Development of Youth Projects (Sharakah). The ceremony was also attended by Andrew Long, CEO of HSBC Bank Oman as the Guest of Honour, other representatives from the Bank, Sharakah, Destination Sustainability and other organisations as well as the beneficiaries of the programme.
HSBC Bank Oman’s Istidama Program for SME Development is one of the Bank’s corporate sustainability initiatives that aim to support entrepreneurs to grow sustainable businesses. The program was implemented by Sharakah in partnership with Destination Sustainability.
Out of 154 applications received, 9 SMEs from different sectors and governates were selected for the Program. The Program’s focus was on ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Performance Evaluation’. Throughout the program, the selected SME’s have been supported through consultancy by evaluating and assessing the performance over a period of 6 months using Sharakah’s Business Performance Monitoring Tool (BPMT) which is classified into 7 categories named communication, marketing and branding, administration, quality, human resources, finance and policies. The “Destination Sustainability” performed the sustainability aspects of the business.
Faris al Harthy, Senior Project Specialist at Sharakah and Shaima al Lawati, CEO of Destination Sustainability, jointly delivered presentations highlighting the outcome of the programme. Further, Nasr al Sariri, one of the programme beneficiaries, Owner of Little Hands Nursery, located in Al Athaiba shared his experience being in the program by delivering a presentation showing the benefits he derived from the programme.
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