NBC hosts roundtable for Omani women entrepreneurs

Muscat: The National Business Centre (NBC), which pertains to the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE), hosted a roundtable discussion on Tuesday between Omani women entrepreneurs and experts from the EU-GCC Dialogue on Economic Diversification project.
Led by Stefan Kraxner and Douglas Aitkenhead, Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Specialists at the project, the round table discussion sought to better understand the specific challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in growing their businesses and in particular exporting to the EU.
The session commenced with a discussion on growth ambitions of each of the SME’s attending the event and explored the constraints and barriers to growth. It concluded with a discussion on initiatives which could be established between the EU and the Sultanate to address these constraints and open up new markets for Omani SME’s products and services.
Commenting on the roundtable, Malak Al Shaibani, Director General of the National Business Centre said, "A major component of economic diversification in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) particularly through accessing new international markets. I am delighted to work with the EU-GCC Economic Diversification project to seek to increase trade flows between Oman and the EU for the benefit of our new and growing businesses."
Stefan Kraxner, Team Leader of the EU-GCC Dialogue on Economic Diversification Project said; "As the name of our project suggests, a key component of our programme is dialogue with both businesses and SME support agencies to assist the diversification of GCC economies. We are particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to meet with women entrepreneurs to discuss with them their business growth objectives and their constraints to growth. We left the meeting with a clear agenda of actions and deliverables.’
The new established EU-GCC Dialogue on Economic Diversification project is financed by the European Union through its Service for Foreign Policy Instruments. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to stronger EU-GCC relation by supporting the GCC countries ongoing process of economic diversification, away from hydrocarbon dependent sectors.
The project will aim to tackle a number of key issues of relevance to the development of EU-GCC relations. The purpose of the project is to promote climate-friendly trade, investment and economic affairs-related policy analysis, dialogue and cooperation between stakeholders from EU and GCC at both regional and country levels in the context of the GCC economic diversification process