Thursday 18 / September / 2025
Muscat: An agreement to provide financial support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in cooperation with Oman Development Bank (ODB) was reviewed at a meeting on Tuesday.
This was discussed at the second meeting of 2021 of the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) under the chairmanship of Qais Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, the Authority’s board chairman.
The meeting also discussed preparatory steps to provide basic services to entrepreneurs and programmes to build their capacities and hone their skills while at the same time assisting them with feasibility studies and market research on the projects for which they need financing.
The discussion covered the mechanism to finance SMEs in regularised stages to be implemented through coordination between the Authority and ODB.
The Board discussed the execution of an initiative to have a standard definition endorsed by all departments concerned (locally) and to go line with international entrepreneurship trends, without compromising the SMEs ability to benefit from all incentives—financial incentives or administrative incentives related to government procedures.
The ASMED Board also reviewed the progress of work in enacting an SME regularisation draft law and a craft industries draft law, both of which seek to establish an organised and encouraging environment for the setting up of SMEs and craft industries, streamline their support procedures and empower them through innovative programmes and mechanisms.
