Friday 26 / April / 2024
“When you are a businessman and have achieved a certain wealth, you contribute to the society. One way of contributing is by funding small projects without expecting a return. It is like giving back to the society,” said Qais Al Khonji, a dynamic Omani businessman, who has been nominated among the top 10 entrepreneurs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 2017.
Al Khonji, along with a few others is in the process of establishing something called the Angel Investor’s society.
“It is where you invest without expecting a return, that’s why it is called an angel,” he explained. “It’s a new concept as people are against the idea of investing in a company with minimal returns. But investing for the purpose of helping young people is still quite new.”
Al Khonji is also a board member of Sharakah, a fund that supports local projects. “Sharakah is a fund created by the Royal Decree in 1998. I have been involved since 2012. So I give advice to students when it comes to funding,” he said.
“Business people who have invested in this fund do so to fund Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The number of clients has increased. Today, we have reached a level where we fund about 20 projects,” he added.
Al Khonji has also been regularly speaking with students and aspiring young entrepreneurs to encourage them to start their own businesses and consider this as an option. According to him, most students only think of joining a public or private company and not about starting their own venture. “I’ve been getting calls from colleges and universities to speak to students about my journey.
“That’s a very positive feedback. Because I believe my story has reached a lot of people.”
He added, “Another way I’ve been encouraging entrepreneurship is through education. I think it will be a good step for students to learn on a school level what a business is.” Al Khonji is certainly an inspiration to many to start their own business from scratch and go through the ups and downs to establish a successful venture.
This is perhaps why he has been nominated by a number of portals for prestigious business awards, such as the one by the Gulf Business magazine. He is the only Omani in the list of top 10 entrepreneurs in the GCC in 2017. The entrepreneur of the year will be voted by members of the public online and voting closes on September 5.
“They have approached me, along with 30 other people, because two years ago I won an international award in the United Kingdom. The writers of the Gulf Business article conducted their own research and nominated me and then it was left open to public vote, which closes on September 5. I am the only Omani in the top 10 list, he said.”
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