Event Reports

Business for a change: Young Omani entrepreneurs are on the rise

by Gidon Windecker, Sebastian Pfülb

Photo gallery of the KAS Social Entrepreneurship Workshop with young talents in Oman

Oman: a Gulf state commonly associated with gushing oil wells, the ancient Incense Road and Sindbad the Sailor. However, in the light of dwindling oil reserves, the worry-free days might be over soon. The question remains: What comes next? Young entrepreneurs with new ideas are needed. Visiting the students at GUtech University in Muscat, one will be surprised how motivated young Omanis are to take the future into their own hands.
February 20, 2016 Ordering Information
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There is certainly no lack of ideas among young Omanis. This is something that became very clear during the “Social Entrepreneurship” workshop organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Regional Office Gulf States. Over the course of the three-day seminar, students learned the basics of social entrepreneurship using interactive exercises and developed their own business approaches to solving current problems of their society.
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Under the guidance of German coach Sonja Andjelkovic, 20 students discussed how young entrepreneurs could not only boost the development of the private sector in Oman, but also how innovative solutions for the country’s social challenges could be designed. Such ideas for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are urgently needed to further diversify the economy, since SMEs currently only contribute as little as 15 percent to the economic performance annually.
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This being said, the hopes do not rest solely on the shoulders of male youth. At least at Oman’s universities, women often set the tone. After various reforms of the Omani education system, men are actually outnumbered by their female classmates. Indeed, not all women proceed to take on a job once they have graduated, but especially young women bear an enormous potential for the Omani society.
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Sara (in the picture above) is one of these young, motivated female students. Together with her workshop group she developed an idea how pollutant emissions caused by the burning of excess gases from crude oil extraction could be reduced significantly. Even though Oman’s oil reserves are expected to be depleted within the next 15 to 20 years, oil and gas exports remain the cornerstone of the economy. Therefore, environmental pollution due to the so called gas-flaring remains a pressing concern.
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In the wake of plunging prices, the need to end the dependency on oil is more urgent than ever. Many hopes rest on the development of Oman’s tourism sector. In the last couple of years, more and more resorts have opened in the sultanate and the tourism sector is witnessing an increase in the number of visitors year after year.
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In 2015, there were already 300,000 additional visitors compared with the previous year. At the same time, the rapid development of the tourism sector threatens to destroy much of Oman’s untouched nature. The students participating in the KAS workshop saw great potential in the tourism sector too, but only if it were sustainable, as the project “Omanism – A Different Kind of Tourism” illustrates.
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Marwan (on the right) and his group’s idea was to develop the tourism sector in an environmentally friendly and socially acceptable way. For an example, families living in rural areas could be incorporated into the new value chains. This way, those regions which lack behind in economic development but offer rare animal species and impressive nature spectacles – such as the Dhofar lagoons – could be supported.
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In addition to the economic development of the country, the students repeatedly addressed societal change in Oman. Issues such as human and women’s rights were central to the workshop participants.
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The group gathering around Lamees (in the picture above) developed a start-up model for women who have become victims of domestic violence. It relies on courses in self-defence to boost women’s self-confidence. According to the students’ plan, revenue from these courses should be used to finance women’s centres in Oman. This is another example of a project which might result in social entrepreneurship in the Sultanate.
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The expert jury applauded the ideas. Hadil Al Moosa (on the left), an academic who researches entrepreneurship at the University of Bedfordshire, Dr. Hussain Al Sami, vice chancellor for administration and finance, Ahmed Al Salmi, general director of the Foundation Year and Russel Sebolino, lecturer for economics at GUtech, evaluated the ideas and gave students valuable feedback as to how their business models could meet the challenges of Oman’s real world economy.
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Even though students presented very different ideas on how Oman’s future could be shaped, there was strong consensus in one point: They will have to take it into their own hands to build a sustainable economy based on social responsibility. The necessary tools, which they were able to gain from the workshop of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and GUtech, will help them put their ideas into practice.

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