Sohar International, working with Visa and in partnership with Lahunna, has awarded OMR 38,000 to women-led businesses at the Oman finale of the “She’s Next” initiative, as lenders and payments firms step up efforts to position female entrepreneurship as part of the Sultanate’s private-sector growth agenda under Oman Vision 2040. The awards were announced at a finale event in Muscat after a programme that combined funding, mentoring and business development support for shortlisted founders.
The top award of OMR 21,000 went to Baladi Baby, founded by Ahlam Al Khabouri. Luvashk, founded by Laila Fadhil, took the runner-up prize of OMR 11,500, while Ypyap Param, founded by Ahoud Al Shibli, won the People’s Favourite award worth OMR 5,500. Organisers said five finalists pitched their businesses before a judging panel that included senior representatives from Sohar International and programme mentor Dr Siham Ahmed Al-Harthi.
The structure of the programme suggests that the organisers were trying to do more than stage a prize-giving event. Sohar International and Visa had launched the Oman edition in January with an open call for Omani women entrepreneurs, promising capital, practical tools and mentoring for founders seeking to scale their businesses. The bank also tied the initiative to its Be Zahiya and Zahiya Plus offerings, indicating that the competition formed part of a broader commercial strategy aimed at deepening relationships with women customers in business.
That commercial logic sits alongside a wider policy story in Oman. Official and semi-official data point to a growing SME base and sustained interest in entrepreneurship across the economy. Oman’s SME sector reached 130,359 registered firms by the end of December 2025, according to reported figures citing the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, while Global Entrepreneurship Monitor findings for 2024/2025 showed high entrepreneurial aspirations among employed adults and strong perceptions of entrepreneurship as a viable career path.
Women are becoming a more visible part of that landscape. Oman’s open data portal now carries dedicated datasets on Omani women entrepreneurs, including women-founded start-ups, licensed craft enterprises and home-based craft licences, a sign that female enterprise is being tracked more closely by policymakers. Commentary and reporting in Oman over the past two years have also pointed to women’s rising presence in entrepreneurship, digital marketing and creative enterprise, even as access to capital, scale-up support and market linkages remain recurring concerns.
Visa has been framing those gaps in digital and operational terms. Material linked to the Oman programme says “She’s Next” is designed to support women-owned small businesses through funding, training and mentorship, while earlier launch details cited findings from Visa’s Women SMB Digitalization Index showing that many women-led firms in Oman use digital tools for sales and marketing but still need more support in areas such as product innovation and payment acceptance training. That helps explain why the initiative blended cash awards with capability building rather than treating the grants alone as the main intervention.
Lahunna’s role also appears central to how the programme was executed on the ground. The organisation said it helped shape eligibility criteria, design the application process, assess more than 270 applicants and mentor finalists ahead of their final pitches. That level of involvement points to a model in which banks and global payment networks provide branding, capital and reach, while local partners supply screening, coaching and cultural fluency needed to identify viable founders.
Sohar International chief executive Abdulwahid Mohamed Al Murshidi cast the initiative as an economic investment rather than a symbolic gesture, arguing that supporting women entrepreneurs aligns with efforts to build a more diversified and competitive economy. Visa marketing executive Maha Nizam similarly described timely support as decisive in changing a company’s trajectory, reinforcing the message that women-led firms are being treated as growth businesses rather than peripheral social-impact projects.
The top award of OMR 21,000 went to Baladi Baby, founded by Ahlam Al Khabouri. Luvashk, founded by Laila Fadhil, took the runner-up prize of OMR 11,500, while Ypyap Param, founded by Ahoud Al Shibli, won the People’s Favourite award worth OMR 5,500. Organisers said five finalists pitched their businesses before a judging panel that included senior representatives from Sohar International and programme mentor Dr Siham Ahmed Al-Harthi.
The structure of the programme suggests that the organisers were trying to do more than stage a prize-giving event. Sohar International and Visa had launched the Oman edition in January with an open call for Omani women entrepreneurs, promising capital, practical tools and mentoring for founders seeking to scale their businesses. The bank also tied the initiative to its Be Zahiya and Zahiya Plus offerings, indicating that the competition formed part of a broader commercial strategy aimed at deepening relationships with women customers in business.
That commercial logic sits alongside a wider policy story in Oman. Official and semi-official data point to a growing SME base and sustained interest in entrepreneurship across the economy. Oman’s SME sector reached 130,359 registered firms by the end of December 2025, according to reported figures citing the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, while Global Entrepreneurship Monitor findings for 2024/2025 showed high entrepreneurial aspirations among employed adults and strong perceptions of entrepreneurship as a viable career path.
Women are becoming a more visible part of that landscape. Oman’s open data portal now carries dedicated datasets on Omani women entrepreneurs, including women-founded start-ups, licensed craft enterprises and home-based craft licences, a sign that female enterprise is being tracked more closely by policymakers. Commentary and reporting in Oman over the past two years have also pointed to women’s rising presence in entrepreneurship, digital marketing and creative enterprise, even as access to capital, scale-up support and market linkages remain recurring concerns.
Visa has been framing those gaps in digital and operational terms. Material linked to the Oman programme says “She’s Next” is designed to support women-owned small businesses through funding, training and mentorship, while earlier launch details cited findings from Visa’s Women SMB Digitalization Index showing that many women-led firms in Oman use digital tools for sales and marketing but still need more support in areas such as product innovation and payment acceptance training. That helps explain why the initiative blended cash awards with capability building rather than treating the grants alone as the main intervention.
Lahunna’s role also appears central to how the programme was executed on the ground. The organisation said it helped shape eligibility criteria, design the application process, assess more than 270 applicants and mentor finalists ahead of their final pitches. That level of involvement points to a model in which banks and global payment networks provide branding, capital and reach, while local partners supply screening, coaching and cultural fluency needed to identify viable founders.
Sohar International chief executive Abdulwahid Mohamed Al Murshidi cast the initiative as an economic investment rather than a symbolic gesture, arguing that supporting women entrepreneurs aligns with efforts to build a more diversified and competitive economy. Visa marketing executive Maha Nizam similarly described timely support as decisive in changing a company’s trajectory, reinforcing the message that women-led firms are being treated as growth businesses rather than peripheral social-impact projects.
Topics
Oman