Date: September 22, 2014
Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shell Intilaaqah that aims at collaboratively extending support to Omani entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses in the Sultanate.
The MoU was signed at The Zubair Corporation headquarter in Athaiba by Mr C S Badrinath, CEO of The Zubair Corporation, and Mr Chris Breeze, Shell Country Chairman in Oman, with the attendance of top management executives from both sides.
Commenting on the MoU, C S Badrinath said: “This partnership with Shell Intilaaqah marks an important milestone for Zubair SEC as the first MoU the Centre signs with the Oil and Gas sector towards empowering and supporting Omani entrepreneurs, and we will put all effort to bring best added value to Intilaaqah graduates who will join Zubair SEC and aim at becoming more business savvy and successful entrepreneurs”.
He added, “We also believe that while the Oil and Gas sector has been putting many efforts in the scope of the In Country Value (ICV) initiative, collaboration with other SME-focused programmes in the Sultanate, like Zubair SEC, would help capitalize on the potential within ICV as the support efforts achieved by such centres as ours who are in the field on day-to-day basis with entrepreneurs, living their businesses and challenges, would bring tremendous insight and value to the desired SME suppliers that could benefit from the ICV momentum”.
On his part, Mr Chris Breeze said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the Zubair Small Enterprise Centre on a first of its kind agreement for Shell-Intilaaqah Oman. Having local strategic partnerships such as the one we are celebrating today enables Intilaaqah’s entrepreneurs to expand upon their Intilaaqah Entrepreneur Development Programme training and benefit from mentee-mentor programmes, educational workshops and networking sessions”. He added “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Zubair SEC for its enthusiasm to form part of the Intilaaqah IEDP assessment panel and look forward to working together to help Oman’s most promising entrepreneurs thrive”.
According to the MoU, a framework of collaboration between both parties will aim at training and coaching young entrepreneurs to start up their own businesses within the Sultanate. Shell will provide training entrepreneurs through its Intilaaqah Entrepreneur Development Programme (IEDP) and introduce graduates of the programme to Zubair SEC that will undertake in return to provide them with the required business advisory and support services, including but not limited to management consulting, mentorship, educational clinics, relevant research, and coordination of various networking opportunities.
Shell will also engage Zubair SEC as a member of the Intilaaqah IEDP Panel for assessing its trainees before graduation and decide on the graduates to become members at Zubair SEC and benefit from the extended business advisory services.
Zubair SEC will closely monitor this framework of graduates support to assess progress towards the completion of key results, based on quality criteria and methods to be set by Shell Intilaaqah and Zubair SEC. The Centre will also continuously identify challenges and risks faced by graduates and facilitate solutions and progress mechanisms to be implemented with Shell Intilaaqah.
Zubair SEC is one of the initiatives which emanated from The Zubair Corporation’s Social Responsibility strategic vision towards the Omani society. The vision reflects the corporation’s belief in the importance of small enterprises (SEs) in enhancing the national economy and contributing to sustainable socio-economic development. The centre comprises a team of socially engaged and business savvy advisors who put all effort to contribute to leveraging the Omani community through equipping and enabling entrepreneurs and start-ups to grow with their businesses in a sustainable and responsible manner. Since its launch in 2013, Zubair SEC has joined to its membership 200 small businesses and around 220 entrepreneurs from all sectors of the economy to benefit from its services and support.
About Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC)
Established in June 2013, the Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC) is one of the initiatives which emanated from The Zubair Corporation’s Social Responsibility strategic vision towards the Omani society. The vision reflects the corporation’s belief in the importance of small enterprises (SEs) in enhancing the national economy and contributing to sustainable socio-economic development. The centre extends business mentorship and guidance to Oman’s promising member entrepreneurs as well as financial support to selected entrepreneurs every year, to help them succeed and grow in a sustainable manner.
For more information on Zubair SEC, please contact the Communications Office at info@zubairsec.org
About Shell-Intilaaqah
The Intilaaqah programme is part of Shell’s global LiveWire initiative, first launched in 1982 to address youth unemployment in Scotland. Since its inception, the program has grown rapidly to become one of the industry’s largest organisations for young entrepreneurs, with a social network of more than 100,000 members. The Intilaaqah programme has been a breakthrough in more than 8 countries in the Middle East and continues to provide support and guidance to young entrepreneurs. Oman was the first country to launch the Shell Intilaaqah programme in 1995. In 2013, the global Intilaaqah programme trained over 10,000 individuals.