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Dr Gidon Windecker, Regional Representative to the Gulf States, welcomes participants to the social media workshop organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in collaboration with Oman’s „Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development“(Riyada).

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International trainer Tim Shier (on the left) supports Riyada in developing a successful social media strategy. Thereby the SME authority shall be empowered to advice Omani SMEs on their use of social media.

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Omani trainer Saba Al Busaidi focuses on ensuring that Riyada’s social media strategy pays close attention to the country’s social and cultural particularities.

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Tim Shier (on the left) in a conversation with Turki Al Balushi (on the right), founder and editor-in-chief of online newspaper Al Balad. The medium, which was advised by Riyada in the early stages of its foundation, has successfully established a credible reputation.

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Khalid Al Haribi (on the left), deputy CEO of Riyada, listens closely to the participants’ contributions. He emphasised the importance of Oman’s transformation strategy “Vision 2020”, which aims at diversifying the Omani economy by promoting SMEs.

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Riyada employees were joined by students from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) as well as representatives of small- and medium-sized enterprises. The diversity of the group contributed to the liveliness of the discussion.

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The students presented the findings of their project works, which dealt with different aspects of using social media in SMEs.

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After the workshop, Riyada is well prepared to expand its social media strategy as well as to consult local SMEs on the effective use of social media.

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The organisers as well as Riyada employees, students and SME representatives are happy about the successful workshop conclusion.

Trainers Tim Shier from South Africa and Saba Al Busaidi from Oman share their knowledge on how to make strategic use of social media for business development. The expertise thus acquired will help the Riyada team to support young entrepreneurs in strengthening the marketing power of their ventures.

The workshop took place against the background of one of the most important challenges Oman is facing at the moment: Diversifying its strongly oil-dependent economy. Riyada was founded to help young entrepreneurs transform their start-ups into successful businesses, thereby enabling young Omanis to become active in different sectors of the Omani labour market.

Building up social media capacity is an important step to exploit the full potential of business owners. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram play a decisive role when it comes to building reputation, establishing brand loyalty and tackling customers’ concerns.

This was already the fourth of a series of events on SME’s role for the diversification of the economy respectively social entrepreneurship held in Oman.