5 entrepreneurs compete for Intilaaqah Awards
An Architecture firm run by Omani women; an environmental consultant based in The Knowledge Mine incubator program; a think tank that focuses on capacity building for the civil society; a tour operator, and a textile retail store are this year’s finalists for Intilaaqah Awards.
Intilaaqah Awards is an annual competition aimed at recognizing successful local entrepreneurs. Winners will be announced at the Crowne Plaza hotel on 2 November in a ceremony held under the patronage of HE Sheikha Aisha Al Siyabiya, Chairperson of Public Authority for Craft Industries. It will also be attended by officials from Shell Development Oman, SME development organizations and entrepreneurs.
Musallam Al Rahbi of Muscat GeoSystems, winner of Intilaaqah Awards 2009 commented “We appreciate the awards judging process, it offers an opportunity for our business performance to be evaluated by experts. It was an honor for us to be the winner of this prestigious award.”
“Intilaaqah Awards this year has gone online, this is part of our strategy to offer more services online and to encourage local entrepreneurs to utilize available online services. We have received 39 quality applications representing different regions in Oman. Certainly, the competition level has risen and selecting those 5 finalists was not a simple task!”
The finalists for this year are
Engineering District Engineering Consultancy
Al Sama Textiles
Rimal Al Sharqiyah Travel & Tours
Mazoon Environmental & Technical Services
And
Tawasul Global Connections Center
They will compete for three categories Best Entrepreneur, first and second runner-ups. Each of them will receive cash money Rials 5,000 for the first category Rials 3,000 and Rials 2,000 for the second and third respectively.
Intilaaqah Awards is supported by many organizations including Sanad Program, Sultan Qaboos University, Bank Muscat, Oman Air, Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Knowledge Oasis Muscat, Omantel, United Press and Publishing, Omani Establishment for Press, Printing, Publishing & Distribution and Muscat Press & Publishing House.
The program is a US$ 17mi Shell fund managed by GroFin aimed at encouraging the development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Sultanate of Oman. It provides funding, guidance and business development services to existing and potential entrepreneurs.
