Shell and GroFin Enable “My School” Expansion
Aug 25, 2015
The Nomou Fund was Shell’s gift to the nation in 2010 and was established to showcase a proven and scalable small and medium sized enterprise (SME) development model. The fund is administered by GroFin, a pioneering SME development and financing organisation.
When Nabil Al Raisi and his wife Samia, who are running a privately owned educational institute, called “My School”, wanted to expand their organisation and make it a state-of-the-art yet affordable school, they turned to the Nomou Fund. This fund was Shell’s gift to the nation in 2010 and was established to showcase a proven and scalable small and medium sized enterprise (SME) development model. The fund is administered by GroFin, a pioneering SME development and financing organisation.
The Nomou Oman Fund is an innovative business model that was initiated to support viable SMEs and catalyse the sector to support sustainable job creation. The objective of the programme is to provide an integrated solution of growth finance, tailored business support, and access to markets for start-ups as well as existing SMEs across the Sultanate. It was especially created to assist entrepreneurs like Nabil and Samia who, in their turn, create much needed employment opportunities and achieve their vision of contributing to the development of the community.
In late 2012, the couple became aware of the Nomou Oman Fund. They immediately made the decision to expand their promising “My School” project with the assistance of the programme. With Nomou’s support, Nabil and Samia added eight new classrooms to accommodate 321 students, and recruited 17 additional qualified teachers and staff members, to increase the tally to a total of 48 employees. In addition to doubling the school’s capacity, the Nomou Fund has supported the school to expand to a host of services not existing previously, including a fully equipped computer suite with tens of Apple Macs, all structured around an improved learning experience.
“Thanks to Nomou’s support, continuous guidance and becoming more of a business partner than just a financing company, we have grown in capacity and quality,” commented Mrs. Samia Al Raisi, Principal and co-owner of My School. “Now we are confident of reaching our goal of providing quality learning to more than 450 students in the coming school year.”
Nomou’s support for developing My School went beyond financial support to include guidance and counseling on world-class methods in managing accounts & financials, selecting the right accounting & auditing firms and introducing the management to vendors and suppliers as well as helping to build positive working relationships with them. It also opened up opportunities for the school to market its services. Overall, it helped to make the school’s operations easier.
“Education is a must in generating well qualified graduates and enhancing social livelihood in Oman. It is the support we extend to enterprises like My School that help bring about such positive changes.” says Sami Al Hassan, Manager of the Nomou Oman Fund and Investment Executive at GroFin Oman. “We are proud to assist entrepreneurs like Nabil and Samia Al Raisi who contribute in creating much needed employment opportunities and are passionately engaged in improving their community through education,” added Al Hassan.
“Shell is committed to Oman’s future and seeks to deliver value to the country through investment in people, technology and projects. One of our priorities is sustainable job creation through entrepreneurship development and the growth of a strong SME sector. The Nomou Fund was established to accelerate this development and it is wonderful to see what a success Nabil and Samia have made of their school” stated Chris Breeze, Chairman of Shell Development Oman.
For media enquiries:
Ms. Salima Al-Masroori
Media Relations Manager, Shell Development Oman
Email: S.Al-Masroori@shell.com
Notes to Editors:
ABOUT SHELL IN OMAN
Shell is active in Oman across the oil and gas industry and is involved in joint venture and independent activities ranging from research and development, exploration and production to trading and retail. Shell also implements extensive social investment programmes that contribute to the sustainable development of the country.
Shell Development Oman LLC provides a central point for co-ordination of all Shell activities and interests in the Sultanate of Oman.
A dedicated Shell Representative office was established in 2002, creating for the first time in Oman a Shell identity independent from the different joint venture companies in which Shell has been proud to participate over many years.
Led by the Shell County Chairman for Oman, the Representative Office undertook the dual role of representing Shell and acted as a long-standing corporate citizen of the Sultanate by providing a conduit for a broad range of social investment schemes, including the successful Intilaaqah programme.
The broad range of activities undertaken by the office from social investment through to learning and technology sharing continually grew and to enable Shell to further expand its efforts to support the development objectives of the Sultanate, the Representative Office was transitioned to a limited liability company on 1 March 2008. This change continues to show our long-term commitment to the sustainable development of Oman.
Shell Development Oman LLC continues the dual role of representing Shell and contributing to the sustainable development of Oman (as the previous Representative Office did).
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