Oman achieves exceptional progress in GEM report
The Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) on Tuesday organised a workshop to review the Sultanate of Oman's results in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2024 report. The Sultanate of Oman has achieved exceptional progress in the 2024-2025 GEM report, ranking eighth globally out of 56 countries covered by the report.
Sayyid Mazin bin Saif al Busaidy, Deputy Chairman of ASMED, presented a number of themes that the authority has focused on implementing to empower and develop the SME sector, including a number of services and programmes provided to entrepreneurs. He also reviewed the most prominent results achieved by the Authority since its establishment and its efforts to enhance local added value programmes for SMEs by implementing the Enterprise Escalation Programme and the Supplier Development Programme, to increase investment opportunities for SMEs and support them in accessing local and global markets with their services and products.
The workshop was titled "Towards Empowering and Sustainable Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Sultanate of Oman". It was attended by representatives of government units and private sector establishments.
Qais bin Rashid al Toobi, ASMED Deputy Chairman for Finance and Investment, explained that the workshop includes 15 working papers covering all areas of relevance to the sector of entrepreneurship and SMEs, the legislative environment and future plans in this field. 'ASMED joins hands with all partners — through initiatives, programmes and other events — to achieve partnerships to empower SMEs and the entrepreneurship sector,' said Al Toobi, noting that the Authority offers programmes in financing, investment, capacity building and marketing.
The workshop reviewed efforts to motivate SMEs and enhance opportunities for partnerships and integration among the government and private sectors, to help empower SMEs, raise the sector's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and augment Oman's rankings in the GEM report.
The workshop included papers that explored entrepreneurial ratios and indices, as well as the outcome of GEM report 2024. The workshop also included specialised training sessions to empower the owners of SMEs and help them benefit from non-traditional financing platforms.
The workshop dealt with the index of entrepreneurship in vocational education, colleges and universities; and highlighted efforts made to establish business centres in all governorates to empower SMEs and startups; and to support technology-based and innovation-based startups through the Promising Omani Startup Programme. This is a three-spot improvement from Oman's 2023 ranking when it ranked eleventh. This reflects ongoing efforts to enhance the entrepreneurship business environment; and support small and medium enterprises.
Dr Abdullah al Shukaili from the University of Nizwa explained the improvement in the results of the sub-indicators of GEM for the Sultanate of Oman for the year 2024, which led to an improvement in the level of entrepreneurship. He also stated that the GEM is an important and reliable resource that assists decision-makers and contributes to improving entrepreneurship outcomes, both qualitatively and quantitatively, worldwide by providing comprehensive indicators and valuable information on entrepreneurship and mechanisms for improving and developing it, contributing to its continuity and sustainability.
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