Shell Intilaaqah Concludes Second Phase of ‘Aspire and Inspire’ Programme Across the Sultanate

Shell Intilaaqah, in collaboration with the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada), successfully concluded its second phase of the ‘Aspire and Inspire’ programme for this year. Entitled, ‘How to Become a Successful Business Owner’, the workshop series shed light on the essential steps every entrepreneur needs to address and implement before undertaking a venture. 100 participants attended the workshop series from Muscat, Al Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah, and Dhofar. Certificates of completion were awarded to participants from Muscat by Dr. Ahmed Al Ghassani, CEO of Riyada and Muna Al Shukaili, General Manager - External Relations and Social Investment Lead at Shell Development Oman.

During the workshops, Aspire and Inspire’s team of qualified experts shared insights with participants on how to ensure the viability of any business. The experts also underscored the importance of a business plan in executing a strategy for starting a venture and the resources required for achieving business goals.

Nawaf Al Saeed, Co-founder of Majan Health Services, said, “Aspire and Inspire is a holistic programme that creates an engaging platform for the development of sustainable youth-led entrepreneurial ventures. As an alumnus of the programme, I’m constantly in touch with the organizers at Shell Intilaaqah to share my experience with this year’s participants. It gives me great pride to see young talent receive such support and training to assist them in realizing their dreams and starting promising businesses.”

Nabeel Al Shekaili, Owner of Al Azhar Supplies company, said, “As a winner of the Riyada’s Entrepreneurship Award for Best Small Business, I believe that the first step for success in entrepreneurship is empowerment of youth. Then, a methodical and tailored training programme is key to fuel their creativity, while highlighting the positive impact they can have on their community development.”

Commenting on the programme as well is this year’s participant Abdulaziz Al-Kalbani, Owner of Asrar Al’ared Trading Enterprises and winner of Best Micro-Institution Award who said, “It is very difficult to embark on entrepreneurship journey without having a clear business objective and model. The latest Aspire and Inspire workshop has introduced me to the ins-and-outs of being a successful business owner, and I look forward to their support in coming months to help me transform my idea into reality.”

The Aspire and Inspire programme third phase is scheduled for October 2018 and will be conducted over 12 days in a number of Governorates including Muscat, Al Dakhiliyah, Al Batinah, and Dhofar. The phase includes Specialized Training courses. Covering a number of areas such as Marketing, Human Recourses, Finance, Product Pricing, and Human Resource Management, the course is built to help participants acquire the necessary knowledge to run their future businesses successfully. It also offers participants the skillsets required to identify the target market, product development, and getting introduced to the Omani labour law. Aspiring entrepreneurs can register for this phase through the following link: https://www.intilaaqah.org/listing/workshops.

Shell Intilaaqah’s ‘Aspire and Inspire’ edition is jointly implemented by Shell Development Oman (SDO) and the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada). Both parties have renewed this collaboration in 2018 to continue supporting entrepreneurs in various areas; including training, mentoring and counselling for an additional three years.