Second phase of ‘Aspire And Inspire’ programme ends

Muscat: Shell Intilaaqah, in collaboration with the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada), successfully concluded the second phase of the "Aspire and Inspire" programme for this year.
Entitled "How to Become a Successful Business Owner", the workshop series shed light on the essential steps every entrepreneur needs to address and implement before undertaking a venture. Hundreds of participants from Muscat, Al Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah and Dhofar attended the workshop series.
Certificates of completion were awarded to participants from Muscat by Dr Ahmed Al Ghassani, chief executive officer (CEO) of Riyada, and Muna Al Shukaili, General Manager, External Relations and Social Investment Lead at Shell Development Oman.
During the workshops, Aspire and Inspire’s team of qualified experts shared insights on how to ensure the viability of any business. The experts also underscored the importance of a business plan in executing a strategy for starting a venture and the resources required for achieving business goals.
“Aspire and Inspire is a holistic programme that creates an engaging platform for the development of sustainable youth-led entrepreneurial ventures," said Nawaf Al Saeed, co-founder of Majan Health Services. “As an alumnus of the programme, I’m constantly in touch with the organisers at Shell Intilaaqah to share my experiences with this year’s participants. It gives me great pride to see young talent receive such support and training to assist them in realising their dreams and starting promising businesses,” added Al Saeed.
“As a winner of Riyada’s Entrepreneurship Award for the Best Small Business, I believe that the first step for success in entrepreneurship is the empowerment of the youth. Then, a methodical and tailored training programme is key to fuelling their creativity, while highlighting the positive impacts they can have on community development,” said Nabeel Al Shekaili, owner of Al Azhar Supplies company.
“It is very difficult to embark on an entrepreneurship journey without having a clear business objective and model. The latest Aspire and Inspire workshop has introduced me to the ins-and-outs of being a successful business owner, and I look forward to their support in the coming months to help me transform my idea into a reality,” said this year’s participant and winner of the Best Micro-Institution Award, Abdulaziz Al Kalbani, owner of Asrar Al’ared Trading Enterprises.
The Aspire and Inspire programme's third phase is scheduled for October 2018 and will be conducted over 12 days in a number of Governorates including Muscat, Al Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah, and Dhofar.
This phase includes specialised training courses. Covering a number of areas such as marketing, human recourses, finance, product pricing, and human resource management, the course is built to help participants acquire the necessary knowledge to run their future businesses successfully. It also offers participants the skills required to identify the target market, product development, and get introduced to the Omani labour law.
Shell Intilaaqah’s "Aspire and Inspire" edition is jointly implemented by Shell Development Oman and the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada). Both the parties renewed this collaboration in 2018 to continue supporting entrepreneurs in various areas including training, mentoring and counselling for an additional three years.