MUSCAT: Crowdfunding — the practice of raising small amounts of capital from a large number of people to fund new ventures — is finally gaining traction in Oman. According to experts, the Sultanate has the potential to become a leading crowdfunding player in the region. 
 
Speaking exclusively to The Arabian Stories, Peter Tavener, Group CFO and COO of UAE-based Beehive, a Fintech pioneer and also the first peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform in MENA, said that with the government issuing legislation regulating crowdfunding platform activities in the country, it will help small businesses and young Omani entrepreneurs.
 
Oman has a great opportunity The World Bank, in its recent Crowdfunding Report, has stated that the developing world has the ability to deploy up to $96 billion a year by 2025 in crowdfunding investments.  
 
“It is estimated that there are up to 344 million households in the developing world able to make small crowd-fund investments in community businesses,” according to the World Bank report. “These households have an income of at least $10,000 a year. Together, they have the ability to deploy up to $96 billion a year by 2025 in crowdfunding investments.”
 
On Monday, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) awarded a licence to Beehive to operate crowdfunding activities in Oman. Beehive is the second company to get the CMA nod after Malaysian-based Ethis Group (EthisX) became the first crowdfunding platform in the Sultanate.

“We are an established company based in UAE with offices in Saudi Arabia and now in Oman. We as a business feel Oman has a great opportunity ahead of us. The crowdfunding rules they set up are good for business,” Tavener said. Beehive is MENA’s first regulated online marketplace for peer-to-peer lending. According to its website, Beehive directly connects smart investors and creditworthy businesses to build mutually beneficial partnerships for growth. 
 
Banks offer financial packages without any collateral.

Meanwhile, EthisX will officially launch the platform on June 23 at the College of Banking and Financial Studies. “These platforms are innovative financing instruments and financial techs enabling entrepreneurs, micro, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to get more appropriate financing mechanisms,” the CMA said in a statement.
 
Leading financial provider ahlibank recently launched its first-of-its-kind ‘Tamkeen’ crowdfunding initiative to support SMEs. Ahlibank signed a strategic partnership agreement with Beehive to offer this unique online financial lending solution specifically for Oman’s SMEs to support their business endeavours and create a sustainable ecosystem that allows the country’s economic diversification efforts to flourish.
 
 ‘Tamkeen’ aims to narrow the funding gap by offering quick and seamless access to financing for SMEs and will allow them to avail financial packages ranging between OMR 20,000 and OMR 80,000, and provide benefits such as competitive pricing, streamlined procedures, and simple repayment terms without the need to provide any security or collateral. 

“Such offerings will work to financially empower local businesses to augment their growth and provide them with wider national economic benefits,” ahlibank said in a press statement.