Al Batinah Marbles pushes development with ‘Khazzan’
MUSCAT: Al Batinah Marbles is a marble factory and is one of the beneficiaries of Khazzan Programme for SME development. The project specialises in geological surveying and mapping areas that have the potential of having marbles in the Sultanate.
It also specialises in developing research methods for utilising the wastage of production processes and minimising it in order to be environmentally friendly.
Harith Al Kharousi founded the business back in 2012. Al Kharousi decided to work in this field because of his passion for geology and the great experience of gathering rocks and analysing its chemical and physical characteristics. The business has witnessed a noticeable growth in the last few years. Products are being exported to more than nine countries including countries in the Arabian Gulf, Africa and Asia.
The business also has several social initiatives such as conducting an annual competition for kids aiming to educate them about protecting the environment.
It also conducts workshops for students about the importance of innovation, characteristics of rocks and the use of natural materials in the environment.
The project has participated in the 3rd edition of Khazzan Pro- ject for SME Development, which is one of BP Oman’s social investment programmes.
The programme has contributed towards enhancing the business performance by identifying areas for improvement.
Delighted with the outcome, Al Kharousi said, “We appreciate being selected to be part of this programme and we are grateful to BP for introducing such a programme. The support we received from Sharakah was a great help to improve our performance. They conducted an analysis of how we perform our operations and made several site visits to our factory to learn more about our operations. A dedicated staff was assigned by Sharakah to provide advice and guidance.”
He added, “The grant provided by BP Oman was utilised to purchase new equipment which enabled us to introduce new products. This has given us a competitive advantage in the local market. Taking a step further, we are also participating in a number of regional and international exhibitions to know more about the latest technologies in the marbles’ industry.”