BP Oman plans to support small and medium companies

Muscat: As part of its social investment projects, BP Oman conducted an engagement session of the Khazzan Project for SME Development supported at Public Authority for SME Development (Riyada) on Tuesday.
This programme aims at helping existing small and medium enterprise (SMEs) to improve their operations by helping them develop a business plan and a growth strategy.
The session, conducted by Inspired Solutions, presented examples of SMEs that participated in the previous year’s programme and explained how to register for this year’s programme. A sales development workshop was also conducted wherein over 50 SMEs attended it, representing different industries.
Khalid Al Kindi, deputy general manager of BP Oman expressed his appreciation of the support BP Oman received from Riyada to conduct the sessions. He was confident that Khazzan Project for SME Development will deliver its objectives of upgrading the operations of selected SME and encouraging them to apply best practices. Indeed, he looks forward to a successful implementation of the second year programme.
“BP believes that SMEs play a pivotal role in developing the economy and the community. Our aim is to contribute with the other organisations in supporting SMEs in Oman. We are delighted of the results of the first year programme and that has encouraged us to launch the programme again for this year,” he said.
“We appreciate the contribution BP Oman takes to develop the community in general and the SME sector in particular and we are delighted of what the programme has achieved last year. We have learnt that 22 SMEs have received extensive capacity building to improve their business performance and have received a comfortable grant from BP to help them do so. Indeed, this is one form of alternative financing options available for SMEs in Oman which we encourage other large corporations to promote as well,” said Khalid Al Haraibi, deputy CEO for Operation of Riyada.
The programme will be executed by Inspired Solutions. At the event, William R. Crew the founder of Inspired Solutions said: “There is a great interest from SMEs to attend the programme and that shows how keen SMEs are to grow their businesses. This year we are aiming to have participants from different governorates.”