'Over 40,000 companies registered as SMEs in Oman'

Muscat: Over 3,000 new official SMEs entered the market between 2018 and the end of July, 2019, bringing the grand total of SMEs operating in Oman to over 40,000, according to the Public Authority for SME Development (Riyada).

According to a statement by Riyada, “There were 18,579 SMEs in Oman in 2015, which rose to 25,692 in 2016, 31,836 in 2017, 37,289 in 2018, and 40,326 by July 2019.”

Nayif Al Balushi, director of support and developments at Riyada said: “Riyada is an umbrella that exists to support the owners of SMEs by giving them technical support, training, and advice as well as different programmes and initiatives that come either from Riyada itself or from contributions in the Public and Private sectors.

“To register in Riyada, the owners must all be Omani, the company must have its HQ in Oman, it cannot have more than 99 employees, and it must not make more than OMR3,000,000 per year. Furthermore, the company cannot be part of a larger company,” he added.

According to the statement by Riyada, companies are given a large number of incentives designed to allow the company to run more efficiently and compete locally and on a regional or international scale.

“Riyada also provides the opportunity to receive an entrepreneur card which allows them to compete for [financial] support initiatives from the private and public sectors,” the statement added, “as well as helping to sustainably develop their business, support the businesses’ competitive capabilities in order to provide added value to the national economy, and to make use of Riyada’s marketing outlets.”