Entrepreneurship Award heads towards final ceremony

Energy Wednesday 29/November/2017 16:20 PM
By: Times News Service
Entrepreneurship Award heads towards final ceremony

Muscat: The Entrepreneurship Award concluded a two-month evaluation phase, which included the assessment of 114 qualified entrepreneurs and enterprises from the various categories of the award.
Thirty enterprisers qualified from the Entrepreneurship Award, 73 from the Entrepreneurship Award for SMEs and 11 from the Entrepreneurship Supporters Award.
This phase included a preliminary screening through the new e-system that follows a set of standardised practices, including meeting the participation criteria and ensuring that the applicant meets the qualification standards.
During this phase a verifying process, aimed at ensuring whether the submitted data is accurate. The method comprised of site visits, interviews, audits and identifying areas of strengths and development of the businesses as well as gain insight of best practices, which was intended to obtain necessary information and provide constructive feedback. This led to the creation of an overall impression about the work environment within the enterprise.
Commenting on the assessment process, Badriya Abdullah Al Hinai, Project Manager of the Award said, “The assessment process focused on two key elements, ‘Enablers’ and ‘Outcomes’, each making 50 percent of the total result. ‘Enablers’ include the enterprise’s vision, strategy, services and procedures. ‘Outcomes’ involve results of service recipients, performance and community.
“A group of assessors were selected according to specific criteria, who provided the award with new expertise, especially with the diverse work environments which the assessors belong to. They were involved in two workshops provided by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), one focusing on enhancing assessment skills based on international standards. This is an effective step towards building local capacity to benefit different stakeholders, not just participants in the award. The second workshop focused on training assessors on the assessment criteria and how to use the e-system,” Al Hinai added.
The Jury phase is due to commence on December 13, while preparations are underway for the announcement of the winners’ ceremony in January 2018. The third edition of the award was well received from entrepreneurs with outstanding projects and also from various supporting companies that play an important role in the overall development process of the Sultanate.