Oman's drive to create new jobs

When protesters took to the streets in Oman in January 2011, much of the discontent focused on limited job opportunities for the local population.

Job creation, particularly for young Omanis, has been a priority for the sultanate for some time. One of the key aspects of Oman’s Vision 2020 was the need to create jobs and facilitate higher education for Omani nationals. The protests gave renewed focus to the government to create a favourable environment for job creation.

Speaking at MEED’s Oman Investment Forum 2011 in Muscat, Mohamed al-Barwani, Chairman of MB Holding Company, highlighted the importance of promoting entrepreneurial activities in solving the unemployment issue.

“Young people have a lot of good ideas, but they don’t have the money to rent an office while they register their company” says Al-Barwani. “[Therefore,] let’s make it very easy for young people to set up companies and consultancies.”

Some improvements have been made already. In his speech, Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed al-Saadi, Commerce and Industry Minister, referred to the creation of a one-stop shop for companies, a policy that has been deployed to good effect in other countries in the region.

Oman also aims to create new jobs in its traditional sectors such as oil and gas. On the sidelines of the Oman Investment Forum 2011, a representative of the Takamul Investment Company stressed Oman’s drive to expand downstream oil and gas activities as a way to extend the value chain and ultimately create more jobs.