Towards Local Economic Development and Entrepreneurship in Oman: Facilitating Information Access, Flow and Transfer between Government Regulatory Authorities and Rural Community Enterprises

In the situation of socio-economic difficulties Oman is currently undergoing, there is a strong and urgent need for the local community to mobilize their resources and look for the options/formats to sustain themselves without placing a heavy burden on the shoulders of the government. The entrepreneurial potential of the rural local community in agriculture, tourism, crafts and traditional industries appears to be rich and promising. However, it remains untapped and not fully utilized due to the limited access to the information on start-up programs and networks; weak ties with the local government authorities; lack of effective communication channels and tools enabling cross-pollinating interaction, collaboration and collective learning within and outside the community. Therefore, we propose, first of all, to explore the existing communication network that links the Ministry of Interior, Municipality Councils and local communities and was indented to work as a medium for boosting entrepreneurship capacity in the rural areas. The purpose of the study is to understand how the system operates, to study deployed strategies of communication network governance and to pinpoint the blockages and obstacles that obstruct the flow of information and contribute to ineffective communication between the three stakeholders. Based on the findings of the primary research and secondary data from case studies featuring best practice recorded by Local Economic Development (LED) World Bank initiative globally and in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, we will propose a list of improvements to the current communication network model that will strengthen communication process between the key stakeholders. We will also suggest options for expanding the network by, for example, introducing additional communication agent/stakeholder - a local information and orientation center - in order to facilitate the access of existing and potential entrepreneurs to the available resources required to set up and run a business (potential investors, legal advice, financial support, business skills providers).

In the situation of socio-economic difficulties Oman is currently undergoing, there is a strong and urgent need for the local community to mobilize their resources and look for the options/formats to sustain themselves without placing a heavy burden on the shoulders of the government. The entrepreneurial potential of the rural local community in agriculture, tourism, crafts and traditional industries appears to be rich and promising. However, it remains untapped and not fully utilized due to the limited access to the information on start-up programs and networks; weak ties with the local government authorities; lack of effective communication channels and tools enabling cross-pollinating interaction, collaboration and collective learning within and outside the community. Therefore, we propose, first of all, to explore the existing communication network that links the Ministry of Interior, Municipality Councils and local communities and was indented to work as a medium for boosting entrepreneurship capacity in the rural areas. The purpose of the study is to understand how the system operates, to study deployed strategies of communication network governance and to pinpoint the blockages and obstacles that obstruct the flow of information and contribute to ineffective communication between the three stakeholders. Based on the findings of the primary research and secondary data from case studies featuring best practice recorded by Local Economic Development (LED) World Bank initiative globally and in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, we will propose a list of improvements to the current communication network model that will strengthen communication process between the key stakeholders. We will also suggest options for expanding the network by, for example, introducing additional communication agent/stakeholder - a local information and orientation center - in order to facilitate the access of existing and potential entrepreneurs to the available resources required to set up and run a business (potential investors, legal advice, financial support, business skills providers).