Suparna Goswami Bhattacharya

August 24, 2015: Entrepreneurship is a great equaliser. Across the globe, entrepreneurs may come from varied backgrounds, but the language of entrepreneurship unites them. And testimony to this is the story of Startup Oman, a one-stop shop community for SMEs. The founders — Canadian entrepreneur Sherry Colbourne and prominent Omani businessman and entrepreneur Ali Daud — though from dissimilar backgrounds, share the same passion —to be the guidebook for SMEs in Oman. Startup Oman enables Omani SMEs to connect with the stakeholders and resources needed to start, grow and accelerate their businesses. Whether that be training, mentoring or funding, this online platform enables Omani SMEs to connect with each other via their My Mujtama community. The platform will be launched on September 5.

Sherry Colbourne

“Two-and-a-half years ago, I landed in Oman with my husband. As a passionate entrepreneur, I began volunteering with local incubators and met many of Oman’s high growth entrepreneurs. Soon I realised that, in spite of an amazing infrastructure, few entrepreneurs knew about the programmes and facilities that existed for them or, for that matter, how to access them,” says Sherry Colbourne who is also the director, Business Development for Omani market research firm National Poll Center.

Along the way she met Daud, the CEO of Daud Group of Companies and a tireless Omani entrepreneur. Besides being the owner of the McDonald’s franchise in Oman, Ali is also the chairman of the Oman American Business Council and honorary Canadian consul in Oman. Colbourne leveraged her Canadian connection to pitch her idea to Daud on his second day as Canadian consul. “To be honest, it was in a moment of frustration that I pitched my idea of how to solve the problem for SMEs. I was surprised to find that Daud shared the same frustration and had his own ideas on how to solve the problem,” she says.

Together they knew that Oman had all the key ingredients of a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem but what it lacked was a single community to access information about how to start a company or manage finances for SMEs. They decided to join forces to help foster a community of collaboration and bring all the pieces of Oman’s entrepreneurial ecosystem together.

As with most companies who have just started out, Startup Oman faced hurdles but the entrepreneurs decided to look beyond these obstacles to make their vision a reality. When it came to funding, they boot strapped the company with their own capital.

Ali Daud

“We spent a year meeting Oman’s many accomplished stakeholders and educational institutes to ensure the platform highlights all the resources available to Omani SMEs,” says Colbourne. Her connections in the high-tech sector meant she had a strong suite of developers to call upon to build the platform. Daud’s local know-how, his understanding of the business community and his passion for establishing Oman as an economic force within the GCC played an equally significant role in establishing Startup Oman.

“We believe in stimulating economic impact through entrepreneurship. It is the combination of experience, passion and tenacity that will transform Oman’s culture into an entrepreneurial hive,” says Colbourne. It was with this mindset that Daud and Colbourne sought to find a managing director for Startup Oman. “We needed to find someone that personified these traits”, said Daud. “We found such an individual in Mahmood Zeyad.”

Mahmood is a young Gulf national who identifies with Oman’s many SMEs. Before taking on the key role at Startup Oman, he was president of AIESEC Oman, the world’s largest youth-run organisation that develops leadership potential in young people and provides entrepreneurship training.

Colbourne says that entrepreneurs around the world are alike. “I have visited entrepreneurial hubs in places ranging from Silicon Valley to Moscow, and entrepreneurship is truly a global language. It is imperative for entrepreneurs to capitalise on their likeness and allow it to bring the world together.”

You can meet the team of ‘Startup Oman’ at the Oman SME Summit organised by IFM at Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Ritz Carlton in Muscat on September 13-14

The post Guiding light for SMEs in Oman appeared first on International Finance.

17th December 2013

With the right currency management solutions companies should be able to maximise the returns from international market opportunities.

Last week, over 100 UK business leaders headed to China as part of the Prime Minister’s trade delegation, many of whom were no doubt eagerly seeking to build new export or import deals with Chinese companies. David Cameron was also clear in his ambition to secure economic ties with China, and was even accused of behaving more like a businessman than a politician, but rebuffed criticism by announcing the visit had delivered over £6bn worth of deals.

The UK Government has also said that increasing exports is at the heart of its economic recovery plans, with the UKTI setting a target to have 100,000 more companies exporting by 2020, with the value of UK exports doubling to £1 trillion in the same period.

This is all good news, and if economic growth continues along the path that the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast last week (2.4% GDP growth in 2014), next year will be good for businesses. However, growing by targeting international markets and boosting export and import volumes needs to be approached with a degree of caution.

In my experience, there is often a lack of understanding about the extent of currency risk faced by companies. Even seemingly mundane tasks such as setting prices and managing payment in foreign currencies can be fraught with challenges for inexperienced importers and exporters.

However, there are also opportunities and with the right strategy, foreign currency transactions can be far more than an administrative burden – they can act as a profit accelerator, with currency hedging and repatriation used to increase the value of revenues generated overseas, when the funds are converted back into Sterling.

One of the biggest problems that UK exporters face is the dilemma of whether to hedge their future order book to negate the potential impact of currency fluctuations. Whilst the UK might be reasonably optimistic at the moment about the trajectory of its recovery, global markets are still volatile and businesses should be prepared for dealing with large swings in their order books.

Some companies may have more visibility on their foreign order book, and in these circumstances forward hedging is a viable route to tackling currency risk. However, for businesses that have found success exporting their product abroad and do not have the confidence to hedge, then the uncertainty of agreeing prices is a real headache, particularly when it’s combined with the recent unforeseen appreciation in the pound against most other major currencies.

There’s always the chance that the currency could move in your favour but it’s a risk that businesses would rather avoid as potential currency losses could easily wipe out the advantage of selling a product around the world.

We are speaking to an increasing number of financial directors who are looking to take a more proactive and sophisticated approach to managing currency risk. Most are looking to achieve this by hedging expected overseas revenue rather than trying to second guess the unpredictable foreign exchange markets and leaving it to the exchange rate on the day. A portfolio approach involving spot purchases, forward obligations and option products is fast becoming the most popular way of managing currency risk.

The combination of these tools helps spread risk when buying currency for international transactions but is also valuable for firms repatriating revenues earned overseas, helping achieve an attractive average rate for converting currency back into GBP.

Hedging also allows some flexibility in the amount that has to be converted. Using a portfolio approach will mean that if certain contracts from abroad do not materialise or payment is late, then it’s easier to manage the shortfall. It means businesses have the confidence to leave a small amount to discretion and may only hedge 50% of their expected receivables.

Currency is a business risk that will not disappear for any UK company with aspirations to expand overseas. However, there are solutions available to minimise the risk of currency exposure and help it become a profit accelerator by repatriating funds at beneficial rates and buying frequently used overseas currency when GDP is at its strongest.

With the right currency management solutions companies should be able to maximise the returns from international market opportunities.

Source: Director of Finance Online

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