Sharakah, in partnership with BP Oman, is welcoming local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to participate in Khazzan for SMEs Development Programme 

The online registration for the programme will be open for one month during November 2019. This marks the official launch of the fifth version of the programme. On this occasion, Dinkar Kishor, acting general manager of Sharakah, Shaima Al Lawati, Founder and Managing Director of Destination Sustainability and in presence of the teams of Sharakah and Destination Sustainability has kicked off the launch of the programme.

Khazzan for SMEs Development is one of BP Oman’s Social Investment Programmes. It aims to evaluate the current performance of the selected SMEs, assess and identify areas for improvement and draw a structured plan for action to be taken over 12 months. Through this programme, Sharakah aims at helping entrepreneurs enhance their businesses performance commercially through identifying improvements in internal governance systems including financial management.

Destination Sustainability, a small local business that provides personalised consultancy in corporate sustainability and social responsibility in Oman is partnering up with BP Oman and Sharakah to assist in reaching programmes’ desired milestones. Furthermore, Destination Sustainability will evaluate the outcomes of the programme through engaging with its stakeholders and partners to understand the impact experienced by them. The evaluation will assist in providing recommendations on the way forward to increase the impact of the programme.

Khazzan for SMEs Development targets ten Omani SMEs that have been operating for one to one and a half years and are owned and managed by Omanis to apply through the online registration. These SMEs will be supported during one-year offering development and handholding services. The selection of the SMEs is based on certain criteria depending on the accuracy and authenticity of the information provided by these SMEs.

Dinkar Kishor commented, “We at Sharakah are grateful and proud of our partnership with BP Oman to implement this project. Over the last four years, we have supported 86 projects. This programme had a positive impact on the community and motivated the SMEs to work harder towards improvement by applying best practices. Through Khazzan for SMEs Development programme, Sharakah in collaboration with BP Oman provides a detailed report of how they can upgrade their operations and make their business more sustainable and viable while following the best practices. Once the improvement areas are clear to the businesses, Sharakah assists through carrying out regular mentorship and guidance sessions and providing required tools in business management. We are happy to provide intensive hands-on experience through our well-experienced team’’.

Faris Al Harthy, Senior Project Specialist, Sharakah, commented, ” Ten SMEs will be selected to go through a comprehensive assessment by using Sharakah’s Business Performance Monitoring Tool (BPMT) which is a framework that evaluates each SME using 58 criteria that are classified into seven different categories of administration, communication, marketing and branding, finance, human resources, quality and policies. Operating SMEs from all governorates are invited to register in the programme using the online registration form at http://bp.Sharakah.om.’’