Date: November 11, 2019
ARA Petroleum, a dynamic member of the E&P industry, has once again renewed its agreement to adopt one seat of Zubair Small Enterprises Centre’s (Zubair SEC) flagship Direct Support Programme (DSP) for the year 2020.
The agreement was signed between Hani Muhammad Al Zubair, Chairman of Zubair Automotive Group and Board Member of The Zubair Corporation and Sultan Al Ghaithi, CEO of ARA Petroleum, during the launch event of the sixth edition of the Direct Support Program 2020. Strategic partners from public and private sectors, officials from SME-linked institutions, entrepreneurs, SME owners, members of previous programme editions were among those who attended the launch event of the popular initiative which has been providing support and guidance to high-potential young entrepreneurs and small-business owners over the last six years.
Members of the sixth edition of Zubair SEC’s Direct Support Programme will be announced in the first quarter of 2020 during which the name of the member company selected for the ARA Petroleum seat will be revealed. By adopting such seats, ARA Petroleum offers business development opportunities, a wealth of expertise, and financial grants to selected members of the Programme.
Giving a boost to the SME scene, ARA Petroleum had earlier decided to adopt one of the seats of Direct Support Programme 2018 which was allocated to Hassan Ali Mohammed Al Lawati, owner of ROVE Adventures. The encouraging results and progress achieved has encouraged ARA Petroleum to renew its support to the Programme for the second year in a row.
Sultan Al Ghaithi, CEO of ARA Petroleum said, “We are delighted to be once again associated with Zubair SEC’s Direct Support Programme which has proven over the year tremendous credibility, capability, and excellence in supporting small businesses and the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Sultanate in general. Being in the oil and gas sector, ARA Petroleum would like to make an earnest effort to participate in building the country’s economy and extending tangible support to the society. It was a pleasure to collaborate with Hassan Al Lawati, owner of ROVE Adventures, which works to tap Oman’s tourism potential, while ensuring that the local communities’ benefit too. We look forward to alliancing with a dynamic new member in the new members for 2020.”
Thanking ARA Petroleum for its support, Hassan Al Lawati said, “We have benefited immensely from the ARA Petroleum’s support. Rove Adventures is a 100% Omani owned and operated company, run with a fervent passion for outdoor adventures and tourism. We launched the company with an intention to promote Oman’s tourism potential and enable tourist to experience the incredible natural wealth of the country. We aspire to help visitors from all over the world discover and explore Oman like never before. Rove’s main goal is to promote responsible and community-based tourism so that locals can enjoy increased socio-economic benefits. As an adventure tourism company managed by a group of young people, we recognise the importance of serving our community members and providing them direct and indirect support. I would also like to extend by deep gratitude to Zubair SEC for their wide-ranging support and guidance. They have repetitively guaranteed that start-ups such as my company are sustained so that we can continue to grow and flourish.”
Mohammed Mubarak Al Hasani, Chief Communications Officer of The Zubair Corporation and Supervisor of Zubair SEC said, “We are grateful to ARA Petroleum for once again renewing their partnership for the Direct Support Programme. It is through the collaboration and trust of leading companies in the country that our Programme can scale up its impact and reach and provide better value to its members. We are very proud of Hassan Al Lawati and his team from ROVE Adventure for the progress they’ve achieved since they joined the Direct Support Programme and we aspire that the new member allocated for ARA’s seat in the programme for 2020 would be also demonstrate distinction and passion towards excellence and sustained impact”.
Zubair SEC started working with ROVE Adventures to provide comprehensive services and equipment in 23 locations. After a short period, Jabal Al Akhdar and Al Wadi valleys were added to the schedule of activities. Although the services provided were largely related to inbound tourism, the Direct Support Programme team began working with Hassan and his colleagues on overseas tourist programmes. After the Programmed helped ROVE Adventures launch its state-of-the art brand new website they introduced the team to the Indian based company Designer Holidays which has been active in the sector for the last 20 years. Since Designer Holidays concentrates on specialised and luxury leisure and tour programmes in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan as part of agreement with Rove Adventures, it promotes Oman in these destinations and vice versa. The programme also helped them sign an agreement with Bahrain based SANAD Travel and Tourism and Tourist Transport, a well-established company with a major presence in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. As part of the signing, both companies have agreed to enter into a strategic partnership to promote each other’s products and service in their respective countries.
Zubair SEC’s Direct Support Programme is considered one of the most important programmes in the field of entrepreneurship in the Sultanate. The programme aims to create a spirit of positive competition between Zubair SEC’s members, aiming to earn a package of services including valuable advisory and business development as well as a financial grant that is spent through a set working plan implemented in cooperation between the Centre and the winning member.
Zubair SEC has recently launched the sixth round of its flagship Direct Support Programme and is currently receiving applications to join the programme, as 10 applicants will be selected to join the Programme in its 6th round. All details are provided on its website www.zubairsec.org and deadline for applying is 28 November 2019.