Muscat – The Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) on Tuesday reviewed its support policies, enabling programmes, performance indicators and future roadmap during its annual media briefing, outlining an ambitious agenda to strengthen the SME sector in 2026. ASMED’s 2026 plan is built around more than 700 initiatives and training programmes organised under […]

Muscat – The Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) on Tuesday reviewed its support policies, enabling programmes, performance indicators and future roadmap during its annual media briefing, outlining an ambitious agenda to strengthen the SME sector in 2026.

ASMED’s 2026 plan is built around more than 700 initiatives and training programmes organised under eight strategic pillars. These focus on fostering an entrepreneurial culture, scaling up SMEs and supporting their regional and global expansion, strengthening local content, broadening access to finance through innovative funding mechanisms, expanding incubators and entrepreneurship centres, leveraging the comparative advantages of governorates, implementing the National Handicrafts Programme, and supporting innovation- and technology-driven startups.

Halima bint Rashid al Zaria, Chairperson of ASMED, said the authority has completed implementation of its SME sector strategy with encouraging results, noting that the sector’s contribution to the GDP increased to about 21% by the end of 2024, underlining its growing role in the national economy.

She informed that there were 130,359 registered SMEs with the Riyada programme at the end of 2025. There were 58,388 Riyada Entrepreneurship Card holding enterprises in the second half of 2025, including 25,986 active cards, supporting a workforce of around 192,714 employees nationwide. The card enables holders to access a range of facilities and incentives offered by various entities.

Halima added that 7,453 beneficiaries completed the Entrepreneurship Readiness Programme last year. The programme delivers intensive training to improve entrepreneurs’ business and cognitive skills, keep pace with changes in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and enhance technical and technological capabilities to ensure business sustainability.

ASMED participated in 413 local and international events in 2025, benefiting 23,794 enterprises, while 608 institutions received support in e-marketing.

In the handicrafts and home-based business segment, 5,813 craft-support applications were approved by the end of 2025. The number of home-based business licence holders totalled 7,026, of a combined value exceeding RO4mn.

Highlighting value-added initiatives, Halima said the SME Upgrade Programme continues to help enterprises move to higher classifications. Last year, 294 small enterprises progressed to medium status, while 41 medium enterprises grew into large companies.

Qais bin Rashid al Toubi, Vice-Chairman for Finance and Investment at ASMED, said the authority aims to finance at least 200 projects this year across various economic sectors.

He added that the Al Azm loan portfolio approved 514 financing applications of a combined total value of RO44.39mn in 2025.

ASMED currently incubates 137 SMEs across its business centres, generating 231 jobs for young Omanis with revenues exceeding RO3mn. Since its establishment, the authority has launched 30 general and specialised incubators in cooperation with public and private sector partners.

The number of innovation-based startups increased to 205 by the end of last year, employing 825 people and having a combined market value of RO395mn.