Muscat: Social responsibility plays a prominent role in the development of communities through the projects that serve the society, achieve the welfare of the citizen, preserve the environment from pollution and develop the national economy. The institutions and companies adopted a number of initiatives and allocated hundreds of millions of riyals to it within its annual agenda. Oman LNG is one of the leading companies in the field of social responsibility. The Board of Directors has allocated 1 per cent of the profits after taxes for social responsibility programmes and was increased to 1.5 per cent after two years of social work and the positive results it achieved out of the belief in the importance of social responsibility and community service. The company supports many governmental projects aimed at developing basic services such as education, agriculture, healthcare and environment.
Khalid bin Abdullah al Masan said “Oman LNG is working to allocate one-third of its resources to the social work in the Wilayat of Sur and the surrounding areas and another third is allocated to the National Fund, which includes contributions to all the governorates of the Sultanate through the establishment of sustainable national projects, and one third of investment to generate future returns to ensure the projects are not affected by fluctuations in oil and gas prices.”
Bank Muscat is one of the companies that has achieved success and leadership in the area of social responsibility.
Talib bin Saif al Mukhmari, Director of Corporate and Media Relations at Bank Muscat, said: “The Bank’s community-based initiatives include a range of more than 10 major programmes such as the Imprints and Tadhamon, Jesr Al Mustaqbal (bridge to the future), Green Sport programme, Young Investor programme and Al Wathba Academy.
Family companies also contribute in wilayats’ development in the Sultanate by launching initiatives and establishing specialised departments, as is the case with Khimji Ramdas’s Eshraqah, which works to train the Omani youth and empower Omani women in particular.
Nailesh Khimji, Director, Khimji Ramdas, said Eshraqah’s activities focus on four pillars, namely education, health, community welfare and training by focusing on one or two wilayats for one or two years.
In 2017, it provided basic tools and equipment to all public schools and hospitals in Samayil. He said in 2019 the focus will be on the wilayats of Izki and Bidbid.
He added that Eshraqah also launched an initiative to empower Omani youth and trained 3,402 youths for jobs in cooperation with a number of government agencies and private sector institutions, supporting small and medium enterprises, building mosques and public majlises and supporting civil society associations, as well as supporting the Omani community institutions. He said sixteen students were selected for a one-year development programme. At the end of the year, two students were selected to study in one of the best schools and colleges abroad. — ONA
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