Muscat: The first MENA Women’s Congress on empowerment of women through coding capabilities concluded yesterday (Wednesday) at the Kempinski Hotel, Muscat. The joint taskforce that was formed during the congress comprising representatives of key public and private bodies in Oman (academia, industry, business, and consultancy) came up with a lineup of action points to be implemented in the coming period.

The action points have been framed based on the first pilot coding programme that was launched recently for a number of Omani women from different governorates in the Sultanate. The programme aimed at equipping the female participants with web-building skills, teaching them how to start online businesses, and generating income for their families.

The event’s action points urged the significance of continuing in empowerment of Omani women through boosting an integrated and sustainable ecosystem that supports female IT graduates to develop their coding skills and commercialise them. The action points also called upon the importance of building up not only the technical skills but also the business capabilities. Moreover, the points also encouraged opening up horizons for the Omani females to take the challenge, learn new skills and reach to the targeted proficiency level.

Organised by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates – Madayn, represented by the National Business Centre(NBC), in cooperation with the US-based CTEK Foundation and a strategic sponsorship by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the MENA Women’s Congress in Oman is a CTEK initiative that aims at supporting women in the region by shaping programmes that give women opportunities to learn coding to start their own businesses.