Weaving a Better Future

Hundreds of Omani women who once believed little in their skills are on the path of a new awakening, as the country is celebrating the 49th National Day. A clarion call to enliven their innate talents, an urge to re-alise their potential, an initiative to recognise their abilities is making headway in and around the Batinah Governorate.

These women, who knew not that they could cause a change to their lives and trigger ripple effect to the society they live in, are now stitching clothes, doing embroidery and designing various clothes for Oman and beyond, thanks to SV Pittie Sohar Textiles.

Shaikh Abdullah bin Nasser al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, will officially be dedicating the second phase of the textile manufacturing at Sohar Free Zone on November 20 where these women who are given with a way to earn their bread and butter will celebrate a new dawn in their lives.

“We never went behind highly skilled Omani women to be engaged in the textiles manufacturing unit. Instead, we asked the Ministry of Manpower to furnish us with school dropouts, semi-skilled, less educated and the like so that we can train and groom them and they will be fully loyal to their profession,” said Vinod Pittie, Chairman, SV Pittie Group.

It is believed that, while many thousands of Omani women are going to be marking a new era of local women engaging in textile manufacturing, the commencement of large scale production at plant will be the beginning of a new industrial journey for the country, opening up a robust growth sector, and in placing Oman firmly and strategically in the global textile industry.

These hundreds of women are currently undergoing training at the Training Centre being set up with the full cooperation of the National Training Fund (NTF) and the Ministry of Manpower. The Centre incorporates experiential learning through advanced textile machinery installed.

According to the report from the National Centre for Statis-tics and Information (NCSI), the proportion of female employees increased from 31 per cent of the total Omani workforce in the public and private sectors in 2013 to above 35 per cent in 2018.

Established as a 100 per cent Export-Oriented Omani Textile Company, SV Pittie Sohar Textiles is a result of the government for creating a favourable and excellent business environment for investments and promotion of non-oil exports.

This company is exporting cotton yarn to countries such as China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries and fetch in non-oil export revenue to the tune of $240 million every year.

The first of its kind in the region, several hundreds of Omani women are working from dawn till dusk since December 2018 and it has then been committed to building capacity, providing training and employment for Omani nationals. The commencement of production on Unit 2 will mark a milestone moment for the company and for the country, as it opens a new chapter in the industrial success of Oman and validates the Sultanate’s efforts of economic diversification in the era of 4IR.

“I never knew that I could stitch, design, and do embroidery till I was called for this job. Today, I’m an earning member in my family and I have better self-esteem and more respect from the society for being a professional as well as balancing my family,” Mayya, mother of four said.