Petroleum Development Oman marked the 2016 Oman Environment Day by holding an exhibition for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have launched businesses in environmentally friendly services and products. The event at the company’s Mina al Fahal headquarters in Muscat was attended by hundreds of PDO employees and environmental specialists.
As many as 12 SMEs participated in the exhibition with four of them student companies. Businesses on display ranged from those focusing on tyre and plastic recycling to specialists in water treatment, palm mulch usage in planting, natural gas cylinders and Eco house creation.
Showcasing the new eco-friendly Omani start-up companies or those who are looking to launch new businesses, the Eco SME exhibition was aimed at helping PDO to identify the types of support that can best be provided for these companies.
Says PDO’s managing director Raoul Restucci: “Sustainability is at the heart of everything that we do at PDO and central to achieving our ambitions in this regard are protecting Oman’s beautiful environment and supporting SME’s as part of our In Country Value programme. The exhibition provided an excellent opportunity to combine both areas and to develop our relationships with these new and exciting businesses.”
Restucci added: “I think that everyone who attended the exhibition found it an informative and a valuable learning experience and it was clear that the SME’s participating were keen to develop their technical and commercial understanding. From the exhibition we have already identified several opportunities that are consistent with our environmental and ICV ambitions.”
The exhibition was organised as part of PDO’s “Bea’tona” campaign, an initiative launched by the company to raise awareness about the environment within PDO, its contractors and the wider Omani public. The campaign is focused on creating tangible changes in protecting the environment and creating positive behaviours towards the environment.
PDO is a long established supporter of local Omani business and employs a wide range of measures to help SMEs. These include employee training schemes, business workshops and assistance in securing contracts.