Date: April 4, 2018
Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC)’s member Saida Saleh Ahmed Al Ghilani, who is the founder of Nojood Sur, has received a business opportunity with Zubair Furnishing facilitated through the Zubair SEC’s initiative “Tajseer”, a business development platform by the centre. Saida’s company Nojood Sur specialises in soft furnishing such as wall papers, curtains and upholstery.
“Tajseer”, meaning ‘bridging’ in Arabic, was designed with an aim to bridge between big companies and small enterprises. During a business development event held under Tajseer, around 30 Zubair SEC members, who were earlier trained to pitch and present their businesses, met representatives of around 11 large companies in Oman. Saida was one of them.
It was during this meeting that Zubair Furnishing selected Saida’s company Nojood Sur as a potential contender for an upcoming 280-room luxury five star-hotel project they were handling as the main ID subcontractor with a leading construction company. When Zubair Furnishing followed up with the delivered services of Njood Sur for a certain business development centre at the project site, they realised it would be a good opportunity to extend to her team some training and capacity building in the area of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) which would be a good adding to her portfolio.
To vitalise her company’s resume, Zubair Furnishing and their contractor facilitated a HSE training programme for Saida and five-member team. With her entire team trained as per HSE guidelines, they are now fully proficient to apply for work for any company that requires HSE compliance. By going through this training, as well as other specialised on-the-job-trainings, the company’s quality processes, certification processes and management of quality has reached a very high standard.
Saida’s Nojood Sur is now handling the wallpaper work for an upcoming five-star luxury hotel. She has completed almost 6000 square metres of installing wallpaper and her work has been done to the satisfaction of Zubair Furnishing.
Lina Hussein Head of Communication and Social Impact at Zubair SEC said, “Saida has been upgraded to a quality vendor and this is very critical because her company is now fully compliant to deal with any company. This is a key added value of Tajseer because we don’t only connect small businesses with a big player, but we groom them and help shape their operations. Besides, being a member of Zubair SEC gave her an easy entry point to connect with the big companies.”
She added, “Tajseer is an umbrella where we do business development contract facilitation. But to put it in context, construction and other large companies are required to transfer atleast 10% of their contract value to SMEs. This is standard procedure but in today’s market it is very difficult for companies to identify SMEs since there are no directory listed with their names. Tajseer has been playing a critical role in locating, identifying and bridging this gap. Tajseer’s business development programme by Zubair SEC has resulted in similar contracts and now the companies are aware of the kind of business SMEs are doing.”
About Saida, Lina said, “Saida was very receptive to the training programme and open to learning which is very important for start-ups. She recognises that quality and price are the two important criteria for her to succeed.”
Vivek Pai, Executive Vice-President, Zubair Furnishing, said, “We are committed to support the SME growth because we believe that it is a key factor to the country’s progress. Zubair SEC has been doing a wonderful job by creating market access and instant connectivity to start-ups. Zubair SECS’s Tajseer will help small business owners explore similar opportunities by networking with representatives from large companies. We are very happy with the work Saida has completed. She has met all the required standards and completed the work on time. She’s been very diligent with her work and has consistently maintained quality. We look forward to such collaborations.”
Acknowledging Zubair SEC’s contribution to her success story, Saida said, “Thanks to the centre’s efforts this has been a great learning process for me. Tajseer has helped small businesses like mine to gain knowledge, insight, ideas and guidance from some large companies in Oman. In my case, Zubair Furnishing empowered me with training and helped me sign a business deal. I thank the centre for giving me access to decision makers in a large company.”
Zubair SEC’s support ecosystem is a dynamic one that evolves and develops based on the needs identified in the SMEs sector. On these lines, through the platform of Tajseer, Zubair SEC hopes to continue connecting its members and large companies in the Sultanate and promote further business development opportunities for its members.
Over the last four years, Zubair SEC has facilitated a number projects and business contracts for its members.