ODB organises social media marketing course

Muscat: The Oman Development Bank (ODB), in cooperation with Injaz Oman, organised a training course ‘Social Media Marketing Skills’ at Knowledge Oasis Muscat. It is part of the efforts of the Women’s Projects Department of the bank to stimulate and develop women’s projects and enable them to take advantage of modern marketing technologies for the promotion of their projects.

Mona bint Mohsin bin Baqar Abdul Latif, director of women’s projects at the ODB while talking at the symposium, said that social networking sites have become today one of the most important means for the promotion of the products of women’s projects. These platforms save time and effort as well as money and help in reaching out to a larger segment of the targeted areas. Today, people keep their phones always with them to remain updated about what is happening around them.

The ODB organised this course to address the problems women entrepreneurs might face, while promoting, marketing and in financial matters. Such courses are just non-financial complimentary services as are just an addition to the basic services provided by the bank while financing women’s projects, she said.

Muna bint Mohsin said, “With such courses, we want to make women capable to run their projects more professionally. They should have complete knowledge and understanding of the issues related to promotions and marketing as well as about the challenges they might face in the way of making their projects a success.”

In her speech, she said, “The ODB gives huge importance to everything related to the development of women’s projects. It also tries to improve her standard of living as well as that of her family. It encourages them to set up their projects and trains them so that they can promote them. This course focused on this aspect of women’s work. Marketing is very important. It should not be ignored. It is a basic aspect of work for the growth of the project’s and helps in the achievement of its intended objectives.

Through this course, the ODB wants to provide training in marketing, project management and promotion of women’s products on social networking sites, in cooperation with several companies and institutions in the Sultanate such as Injaz Oman. This training course is directly meant for the beneficiaries of the bank. This will give them the marketing and promotional skills and encourage their entrepreneurship, self-employment, and support their skills in various products, services and marketing sectors, through social media platforms. The social media has become very important for the business world today.

Among the women’s projects, there are many activities funded by the ODB. They include beauty parlours, cooking of food items, sewing women’s dresses, renting wedding dresses, as well as making incense and perfumes, organising parties, making pottery and cosmetics.

By holding these training courses, the ODB wants to provide non-financial services to the beneficiaries of the bank’s loans. These training courses include providing consultations and training in several areas, including marketing and promotion, how to manage projects and face difficulties and overcome them. This will play a major role in covering the gaps and overcoming the obstacles faced by women’s projects, which sometimes result in their closure. The bank has taken this initiative as complementary services to the main financial services and facilities given to women’s projects. Soon, the ODB also wants to hold bazaars and exhibitions to promote projects funded by it and make marketing outlets for them.

Salamah Al-Wuhaibiyah, owner of a transaction clearance office funded by the ODB, said, “I benefited from the training course in promotions of the project through electronic means. Here, I learnt the latest methods to promote our projects. I thank ODB for holding such courses. The bank is always keen to follow up with the entrepreneurs and support them.”

Fawzia Al Baloushi, owner of a project of clothes and perfumes’ selling, said, I attended the training course because it was important for the development of the project and keeping up with modern technologies used in promotions. These modern methods help you reach different segments of society.

Madiha Al-Wadhahiyah, owner of a women’s beauty parlour funded by the ODB, said, The training course helped me in learning modern useful promotional. They are less expensive and help in reaching out to a larger segment in the market from anywhere and anytime. I advise all entrepreneurs to take advantage of social media platforms for promotion and marketing of their projects.

The course was attended by female trainees affiliated with the Ministry of Social Development and the Public Authority for Craft Industries. This was support to the ODB’s partnership with these two institutions and other concerned organisations to encourage women to start their projects and enter their different types of products in the local market.

Times of Oman