MUSCAT: Since the global effect of the Covid-19 pandemic began to really kick in more than a year ago, many small and medium enterprises across the globe have suffered. To this, Omani small businesses are no exception.
One such business is Brum Bites, a restaurant owned by Mohammed Miller, located in Al Wadi, in Salalah. Mohammed started his restaurant in January, 2021, driven by the desire to provide quality, healthy food to the Dhofari people. However, he has faced many challenges in doing so. “This Covid has messed up a lot of things. It has made the world unstable in terms of finance, health, and people’s mental state. In some way we’re all feeling it.”
Mohammed said he understood and respected the decisions of the government, but in reality the Covid-19 restrictions posed great challenges for his business.
Yaarab Kofan, another Omani entrepreneur who started his own business this year as well. The business, a coffee shop named Patria Café, was started in February 2021.
Yaarab says he has had the plan to start this business for years now, and that there have been certain advantages to starting during the pandemic.
“Had I started the business in 2019, my focus would have been different. Like outside and inside seating arrangements.” Because Yaarab began his venture after the pandemic began, he feels it has been far easier to assess risk.
However, it is not to say that his business has been unaffected. “Sales for coffee shops in general have gone down… Some friends of mine have had to close their shops down altogether.”
Abdullah al Hadhari is an Omani entrepreneur who has three different businesses that have each been affected by Covid-19 in their own way.
The first of his businesses, a perfume and frankincense shop, was started in 2010, the second, a horse stable which allows people to ride horses, was started in 2013, and the third is a bus transportation service for students, started in 2015.
All three of Abdullah’s businesses are self-funded. Abdullah said Covid-19 has had a strong impact on all three of his businesses.
“The frankincense shops have all been closed during lockdown… transportation had been on hold because there had been no school, and I needed to sell many of my buses, and there have been fewer people riding horses because the beaches were closed.”
Another contributing factor affecting his businesses is covid-19’s effect on tourism. Frankincense and horse riding are popular with tourists, and the pandemic has had a large effect on global transportation. Although Abdullah’s transportation business remains closed, he says that the other two have been gradually getting better, though he believes that it will take some time for businesses to heal from the effects of the pandemic. (Mazid Mustahil Akaak)
