Date: May 30, 2016
Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC)’s recent ‘Tajribati’ session brought together industry experts, practitioners, consultants, start-up owners and entrepreneurs to discuss the pertinent topic of business collaboration.
The session focussed on the importance of business collaboration between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and how collaborative relationships can unlock growth opportunities, improve performance and help secure new business. Speakers also discussed how business collaboration can generate a wider economic impact and provide a higher potential to secure larger contracts.
The ‘Tajribati’ monthly sessions serve as a unique platform to connect business experts with start-up owners and new entrepreneurs to exchange views, discuss common challenges and share best practices. The recent session was held to emphasis the fact that business collaboration can give a competitive edge and open up wider markets to young Omani entrepreneurs. The discussion attracted the participation of more than 55 attendees of Zubair SEC members and non-members from different sectors.
While stressing that building a successful long-term collaborative relationship is vital, speakers also discussed reasons as to why some SMEs might be reluctant to work together on joint projects, and what could encourage such cooperation.
Hussein Al Lawati, Managing Director, OMASCO (Oman Marketing & Services Co.) and Zubair SEC members Hamida Al Khusaibi, Founder of Beautiful Pearl, Zainab Al Nadabi, Founder of Princess Pearl for Flowers, and Muna Al Riyami, Founder of Excellence Lens for Photography were guest speakers at this session.
Speakers and the attendees agreed that collaboration between SMEs can lead to pooling of information and resources for the sake of pursuing a shared objective, and contribute to increased competitive advantages.
Ali Shaker, Business Advisor at Zubair SEC said, “We are happy to witness the increasing popularity of our sessions among both member and non-members of SME owners. We believe that the main reason these sessions are resonating well is the format that we follow. Transparency and respect of each other’s opinions have been the main values of these sessions and we make sure to maintain it and this has been appreciated by the attendees.”
Referring to the theme of discussion, Ali Shaker said, “this month’s topic about the importance of business collaboration comes at a crucial time. Enforcing such cooperation between SMEs as means of attaining contracts and projects is a must. SMEs must remember that at times they may require services beyond their own scope of work. We constantly encourage our members to identify potential small or medium businesses that they can collaborate with to deliver market requirements of certain contracts”.
The main guest speaker for the session, Hussein Al Lawati, Managing Director, OMASCO provided valuable insight on how large companies collaborate in business. He also gave a brief on what big organisations expect from SMEs and mutual benefits they could enjoy by adopting a proactive approach on collaboration.