Abdulqader Al-Jahdhamy who worked as a senior official in Daleel petroleum and later as a consultant in BP started his own SME as he sensed an opportunity in oil and gas sector.
When was Al Jadhamy Trading and Service started? What are the areas in which the company operates?
Al Jadhamy Trading and Services was established in 2006. The company is operating in the oil and gas sector providing services to the sector and supplying essential equipment.
Tell us about yourself. Why did you decide to start your own business?
I started my career as an employee of Daleel Petroleum. I left the organisation in 2011 and joined BP as a consultant for a year. After ending my consultancy in 2013, I left BP and concentrated on business fully.
We provide materials like pipes, fitting valves, chemicals etc to the Oil and Gas industries. We buy from agencies based abroad including agencies in other Middle East countries. We came with a new market strategy of doing business in completion tools. In completion tools worldwide, a few (around five) companies only provide the same services. They include companies like Haliburton, Schlumberger and local company MB petroleum.
We sensed that it is a good idea to be an SME on competition tools and made a presentation before the Government of Oman by the end of last year. Our presentation impressed authorities and they supported us by giving loans. Now we have started business and things are progressing. We have orders from a few organisations like PDO BP and other operators. Recently we have provided service at BP site and Omantel. We provide service in different areas.
What inspired you to start business?
I worked in Oil and Gas for 23 years and have gained valuable experience. I thank the Government of Oman for providing education, giving opportunity to go abroad for education and training. I was the head of my department when I left. Afterwards, I decided to do business fully realising the risks associated with it. If one fails in business it will be dangerous. The creditors will go for legal action if you cannot return the money. But then, without risk you cannot live. We have to accept the challenge if we want to succeed.
We have registered as an SME now. The government says they will give us ten per cent of the purchase to SME. We hope the government will keep its promise. If it is not implemented it will be a challenge for us and will aggravate problems in the future.
What are the challenges you face?
Finding right talents and recruiting them is one of the main challenges. Majority of youngsters are not ready to join SMEs. They feel there is more risk in joining small companies as there is a chance that they may not succeed and might close down unlike big companies that are more secure.
The next important challenge is getting financial support. Getting the business is another challenge for SMEs. When I go to big companies and operators, some of them say we don’t have opportunities. None gives due attention when we remind them of the government decision to allocate 10 per cent of government purchases and tenders to SMEs. This has really affected our organisation. I am thinking of diversifying our activities because of the situation. We have some orders from operators but we are facing difficulty in getting funds from local banks and financiers to enlarge our operations. Only when we get funds we can grow. This is a difficulty and a challenge for us.