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Marketing vital for Oman's SMEs in restaurant and food business, says minister [Times of Oman](Times of Oman Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Muscat: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in the restaurant and café business in Oman should focus more on marketing, said Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrizi, minister of tourism. "The performance of local businesses is good. However, sometimes they have very good products, but they cannot succeed without marketing," Al Mahrizi told Times of Oman. He made the remarks on the sidelines of an event held at City Centre Muscat on Sunday and Monday to provide support for local companies active in the food, café and catering business. The 'Ozooma Omania' event had been organised by the Public Authority for SME Development in association with Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran). The first edition of the event was held last year. 'Ozooma' typically means an invitation to a group of people to a specific place to dine. The event helped the participating entrepreneurs promote their brands to receive appropriate corporate support from various organisations. The key objectives of the event were to enhance the brand image and quality of Omani restaurants and cafés among the corporate sector and local visitors, encourage and raise awareness about entrepreneurship among the local community and promote Omani-owned restaurants and cafés in malls and shopping centres. Al Mahrizi said that it was very important to encourage young Omanis to join this field especially now that the sultanate is promoting its tourism. Traditional cuisine is an inseparable part of the country's culture, he said, adding, "We have to present our rich food culture to tourists in the best way possible and also develop the industry to meet modern requirements." "The event was held to ensure that local brands have the support of the government. Marketing is very important and that is why they should receive help from the government," the minister said. Matter of trust Khalifa Bin Said Al Abri, acting CEO of Public Authority for SME Development, said that big companies should trust local brands and use their services and products. The two main challenges that these business are facing are marketing and trust, Al Abri told Times of Oman. "Many companies trust only big names, but we would like to send this message to companies that these enterprises can do even better than big companies. We just need to trust them." The quality of their products and services are 'excellent', he said, adding that a number of agreements were to be signed with local companies on the second day of the event. "We are supporting them because we believe that there is a huge opportunity for them to grow and take a share of the market," he said, adding that the 'Ozooma Omania' event was in line with the authority's efforts to support SMEs. Omran's training programme In addition, Engineer Wael Al Lawati, Omran's chief executive officer, said that the event provided a platform for Omani SMEs to showcase their skills and services in the catering and food business. "Our commitment is to choose some of the best exhibitors for our catering requirements. The event was held to also encourage other companies to take up these services because some of them are offering good quality products and services and they just need an opportunity to say that they are available," said Al Lawati. He said that the government is supporting them through such events, but they themselves should also explore various opportunities. To enhance the benefits of the event, especially in developing the participants' professional skills, Omran organised a one-day training programme at Muscat Intercontinental, one of Omran's hotels in Muscat. The programme focused on food safety management procedures and the ways and means to present and serve prepared food. To contact our reporter: [email protected] (c) 2014 Muscat Press and Publishing House SAOC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |