Date: March 12, 2018
The winners of the Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC)’s Direct Support Programme (DSP) for the 2018 will be announced tomorrow at an event to be held at the Bait Al Zubair under the patronage of Al Zubair Muhammad Al Zubair, Vice Chairman of The Zubair Corporation.
The Direct Support Programme has established a very reputable and credible positioning in the SMEs sector. 10 new winners whose applications have gone through a multiple-stage evaluation will be announced tomorrow taking the number to 48. During its past four rounds, the Direct Support Programme signed up 38 winners.
Zubair SEC launched its fifth round of the Direct Support Programme under the auspices of Hussam Muhammad Al Zubair, board member of The Zubair Corporation on October 18, 2017. Since the announcing of the new edition of Direct Support Programme, Zubair SEC has received an enthusiastic response from interested applicants from across the Sultanate.
This year 225 applications were received. The winners of the Zubair SEC’s Direct Support Programme go through a multiple-stage evaluation before being adjudged victors. Once applications are evaluated, applicants go through interviews and their projects were reviewed several times.
Zubair SEC has been able to scale up the impact of DSP thanks to strategic partners who have showed trust in the programme and contributed to its success by adopting seats like Oasis Logistics in 2016, Ominvest in 2017. This year too, the leading investment company Ominvest has come on board to be a strategic partner in support of one seat of the 10 winners’ seats.
Giving a boost to the SME scene, ARA Petroleum, a dynamic entrant to the exploration and production industry of the oil and gas sector in Oman has adopted one of the seats of Direct Support Programme 2018.
During the past few months, Zubair SEC organised roadshows across the Sultanate to publicise and apprise details of its Direct Support Programme to Omani entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses.
Organised by Zubair SEC’s team of advisors, the efficacious roadshow reached out to several budding entrepreneurs across the governorates of Oman. The roadshow was arranged by Zubair SEC in close collaboration with the Public Authority for SME Development (Riyada) for Salalah and Sohar; the National Career Guidance Centre for Nizwa roadshow, and with local youth community (Fursah) under the umbrella of Al Nahda Sport Club in Buraimi.
Winners of the Direct Support Programme receive additional direct advisory and consultancy services as well as a financial grant to support their businesses. Although all members of Zubair SEC benefit from advisory and training services, financial facilitation, and support that the Centre and its network of cooperative partners provide, only 10 members get selected every year for the Direct Support Programme. The objective of this is to create positive competition amongst members and to encourage them to work harder and be more committed and dedicated towards achieving their objectives and ambitions.
Zubair SEC’s Direct Support Programme is considered one of the most important programmes in the field of entrepreneurship support in the Sultanate. The programme aims at creating a spirit of positive competition between Zubair SEC’s members to enrol in the programme, and thus earn a package of essential services to launch and maintain successful and sustainable businesses through set working plans implemented in cooperation between the Centre and the programme members.