MUSCAT: Oman is ranked among top 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of development and growth of startups and among the top 10 countries in attracting talents, according to the Startup Genome Report for the Middle East and North Africa.
The report focused on attractive opportunities for startups and investment therein, notably within three main sectors of e-commerce, clean energy technologies and financial technologies. The growth of these sectors is expected to gather momentum during 2025.
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“These indicators provide evidence about the efficiency of our business environment in attracting innovators and investors,” said Qais Rashid Al Tobi, Deputy Chairman for Finance and Investment at Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED).
Speaking at a press gathering to review the 2025 plans for small and medium enterprises in the country, Al Tobi said ASMED envisages the financing of not less than 300 enterprises during 2025 in various economic sectors. He added that “Azm” lending portfolio approved 400 financing requests until the end of September 2024 to the tune of more than RO 37.6 million.
He added that ASMED, acting in cooperation with the Development Bank, launched 9 financing programmes with the aim of providing financial funding to entrepreneurs so that they could expand their projects locally and abroad. The step also aimed to encourage entrepreneurs and job seekers to explore opportunities to benefit from the ease of doing business.
Al Tobi added that ASMED efforts promoted the Sultanate of Oman to the 11th place in the Entrepreneurship Index out of 49 countries covered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report for 2023.
Meanwhile, Halima Rashid Al Zar’ai, Chairperson of the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED), stressed that ASMED ardently undertakes its role in supporting the empowerment of SMEs and startups, entrepreneurs and artisans.
For his part, Abdullah Ali Al Sunaidi, Director of the Development and Empowerment Department at ASMED, said that the total national workforce in the SME sector stood at 192,714. He pointed out the total number of SMEs that obtained the Entrepreneurship Card in the second half of 2024 stood at 64,436.
