MUSCAT : The Authority for the Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) organised a press conference today on practicing home-based production businesses, as well as the mechanism of offering professional support to such activities.

Mubarak Mohammed Al Dohani, Director General of Commerce at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, said that the recent decision on regulating the practice of home-based business comes as an update of an earlier decision. He pointed out that the number of units licensed to practise home-based business activity units stood at 9,000 as of 24 July 2022.

He explained that the new decision seeks to streamline home-based business, build confidence between business owners and clients and support low-income segments by attracting permanent customers, thereby allowing their businesses to grow and prosper.

He added that the decision also provides legal cover for the homemade products, as well as consumer protection. This will in turn facilitate the Ministry’s supervision of such business activities, create a true database and secure business owners’ status as jobseekers, allowing them to contest new jobs that might be announced in any sector.

Meanwhile, ASMED Deputy Chairman Qais Rashid Al Yaqoubi said that as many as 30 business activities are listed in the Sultanate of Oman, among them 16 classified as professional and accredited.

ASMED has 19 training programmes in place operating across various sectors. The programmes fall in two categories—a technical and business learning category and a marketing category, said Al Yaqoubi. He said that the number of artisans registered in the Sultanate of Oman stands at 23,000.

Al Yaqoubi added that home-based business card holders benefit from services offered to crafts people, in addition to necessary information that might be crucial in decision-making and sustainable development.