Maharat is a specialized training provider and strategic training partner in the vocational and technical realms catering to both the public and private sectors in Oman. Akshay Bhatnagar and Kavita Nair-Fondekar caught up with Sir Charles Shaw, CEO of Maharat at the minty new office premises at Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) recently.
Can you tell us a bit about your association and commitment to Oman?
It is a long-term association. I was a major in the British army and in 1982 I was loaned to the Omani army for two years. Once you get the sand between your toes in Oman, it’s very difficult to get rid of it. I am an African and I could relate very easily to the Middle East. The entire two years I only spoke in Arabic to my soldiers because they did not speak English and I believe that if you want to get along with people and motivate them, you need to speak their language. It also helped me make a lot of friends who remain friends till today.
I left the army in 1986 and went into business. But throughout the time I was in business, in the UK and the US in SMEs, construction, property, IT and in training, I always kept in touch with Oman, socially as well as commercially. My partner and I set up a travel and tour operating business that exclusively focussed on bringing upmarket clients from the UK to Oman. It became a very successful business venture on the tour operating side and that gave us the excuse to come back to Oman off and on. We enjoyed the place so much that we bought a place in Muscat Hills, which we used as a holiday home. I then came back here permanently around two years ago with the idea of working and living here. This is a wonderful country and today I am totally focussed on Oman as my home.
How did Maharat happen?
The long story in a nutshell is that when I was a soldier here I had over a 100 Omani soldiers. There were a few Americans and a few Jordanians but the majority were Omanis. I saw that in the practical world, Omanis are very good in the practical aspects and that is what got me thinking. I thought back then that we have to get the practical trades Omanised. Practical training is what I would love to give back to Oman so that people can have a career path in the practical world. That was the essence of the birth of Maharat a long time ago.
When I started returning socially to Oman I saw huge development, which was fantastic and there was a lot of focus on the academic side. People were going to universities in the UK, the US and other parts of the world to get their masters and PhDs. I thought we needed to develop the practical oriented people too in addition to the academic ones. I discussed my idea of providing practical training tuned to employability with HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minster of Manpower and Dr Muna Al Jardania,Undersecrtary at the Ministry of Manpower three years ago when I gave them a presentation. At that time I had my own business called Leadership Dynamics, which had an affiliation with Pearson.
Pearson was looking for a partner in Oman so they asked me to research the Omani market and report my findings. I received candid feedback from all the Ministries, CEOs and Chairmen of various companies that I spoke to about what they wanted as employers. They confirmed and strengthened my resolve that it was practical learning at a quality standard that was required. That is how Maharat came into being.
Who are the partners in this venture?
We are unique as an organisation. We aim to remain an independent training provider. We are the only training company in Oman who has owners including Government Pension Funds and Private Equity Funds. The great thing about these investors is that they do not merely give us the money. Every one of them is directly involved in education and training themselves. They all understand training and challenge us to get the best ideas on board.
What would you say is your organisation’s USP?
Maharat is a 100 per cent Omani owned company and is the only training company with an SAOC. We are well funded, well respected as a professional organisation, have the government behind us and we are an Omani funded business to train the Omani workforce. That is our reason for being. We are focussed on Omanisation and despite being a young company we are nearly 40 per cent per cent Omanised.
