Sharakah and National Finance renew pact to serve SMES

The Fund for Development of Youth Projects, SAOC (Sharakah) and National Finance signed a cooperation agreement yesterday to conduct a series of “Calculate it Right” workshops.

The workshop comes as part of National Finance’s Social Investment Programme and is implemented by Sharakah. The workshops, which are Sharakah’s proprietary work, cover the basis of starting a business and aim to make business owners better understand financial requirements and how to calculate project cost, operational expenses, sales assumptions, required resources, and the cost of capital in order to properly understand the profitability.

The agreement was signed by Said bin Salim al Sahib, Vice Chairman on behalf of Sharakah and Robert Pancras, Chief Executive Officer, on behalf of National Finance.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Robert Pancras, Chief Executive Officer, said: “SMES have a crucial role to play in stimulating growth, generating employment and are a key contributor to GDP. Being the largest FLC in the country, National Finance is committed to the growth and development of SMES in Oman. With 20 branches strategically located across the country and our diverse product suite, we bring finance closer to the neighbourhood of our customers.

National Finance is delighted to renew the agreement with Sharakah for the second consecutive year as we believe that with the valuable experience of Sharakah coupled with our deep local knowledge and country-wide presence, we will be able to deliver a series of workshops aimed at developing the necessary skills and knowledge within the SME community, thereby contributing to the growth of the local economy. This is in continuation to a similar programme successfully conducted by us during 2018.”

“Calculate it Right Workshops are a result of a cooperation agreement between National Finance and Sharakah.

We are pleased by the response we have received from the business owners and entrepreneurs after conducting 10 workshops last year with National Finance. Indeed, we believe that we should continue spreading awareness and develop the skills of business owners and students all around Oman,” said Said Salim al Sahib, Sharakah’s Vice Chairman.

Business owners who are interested in participating in the workshops can follow Sharakah social media accounts to get more information about the scheduled workshops. The registration form will be available online starting from October 2019.