Fund for Development of Youth Projects, SAOC (Sharakah), premier institution in Oman involved in development of Small and Medium Enterprises(SME’s) has joined hands with Lighthouse LLC, one of the most renowned Human Resource Consulting firm in the region to initiate ‘Lighthouse Sharakah – Leaders and Entrepreneurs Assessment and Development Program’ (LS – LEAD Program). This program aims to carryout an in depth research to identify competencies required by individuals to be successful entrepreneurs in Oman.
The research will entail analyzing various aspects related to creating a favorable environment for entrepreneurs, this includes the industrial environment, cultural upbringing, economic conditions, demographic profile and else. This will lead to developing a tools to assess the Entrepreneurial skills for locals to ensure that they run successful businesses.
This tool will be customized and designed to measure what is known as Entrepreneurial Value Index (EVI) of the individual against the set of competencies which were identified during the research, in a developmental paradigm. The result of this tool can then be used to give anyone who is eager to develop their own business a clear road map to acquire necessary skills to be a successful entrepreneur.
“SMEs are the backbone of the economic landscape. Their role in a developing the economy and addressing issues related to unemployment, resource utilization, distribution of wealth and else cannot be understated. According to concerned authorities, close to 80% of business in Oman are considered to be in the SMEs range. They contribute 90% of the economic activities. They play a pivotal role in providing a delicate balance in business ecosystem dominated by other sectors like Oil & Gas, Banking and Trading,” said Ajay Singh Bhati, CEO and Managing Partner of Lighthouse LLC.
“It is imperative not only to identify talent having potential to be a successful entrepreneur but also to handhold them through variety of programs to harness business skills further so that they are able to contribute to the growth of the country. We approached Sharakah and found them forthcoming to partner with us on this initiative and I see this as a step in the right direction,” added Bhati
The said Lighthouse – Sharakah LEAD study will be carried out in 3 phases. The first phase will focus on understanding the entrepreneurial landscape in Oman. It will consist of profiling Sharakah’s clients and then analyzing the process undertaken for entrepreneurial development.
Phase two will identify target successful entrepreneurs for conducting behavioral interviews. The data will then be collected to develop the competency clusters. This will lead to defining the competency profile for entrepreneurship in Oman.
The third phase a tool will be design to assess the entrepreneurial capacity of individuals and will include a pilot test of the assessment toll on a sample size of entrepreneurs.
The exercise will take close to 5 months to be completed. During this time the Lighthouse team will aim to meet and interview more than 200 entrepreneurs and various government and financial institutions involved in promoting entrepreneurship.
Emphasizing on the need to assess the entrepreneurial capacity of local, Abdullah Al Jufaili, Sharakah’s General Manager said “There are already a number of private and public sector initiatives in the community to promote entrepreneurship and support SME’s. These initiatives range from promotional seminars, training workshops, awards, financial support and mentoring services. Developing entrepreneurs requires identifying the areas that they need to be developed in at first, identifying the gaps and then introduce customized programs to fill these gaps. We believe that by working with Lighthouse we will be able to define the type of support entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses.”
“The process of sanctioning any new application involves looking at three major criteria, the viability of the business, entrepreneur’s commitment and their skills and capabilities. For the last two, this tool will play a major role in providing a clear method for assessing an individual’s capability to manage the business,” commented Zuwaina Al Badai, Investment Analyst, Sharakah
Sharakah and Lighthouse agreed that this tool once developed will be installed free of charge to Universities, Colleges and Other Education Institutions to assess students for their entrepreneurial skills. Lighthouse and Sharakah can further assist education institutes in developing mentoring programs for the students having high EVIs to be able to work with successful entrepreneurs in Oman.
