Muscat: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, is organising an Open Day for micro and small businesses from February 11 - 15 across the network of branches in the Sultanate.
The unique 5-day event hosted by najahi Retail Enterprises department comes in line with the bank’s ‘Let’s Do More’ vision and commitment to partnership in strengthening the role of micro and small businesses to play an important role in diversifying the Sultanate’s economy and creating job opportunities for Omani youth.
The highlight of the Open Day will be security free financing and special discount on business credit facilities for micro and small businesses. Entrepreneurs keen to avail the facility should visit the nearest branch with commercial registration and ID copies of business partners to grow their business.
The Open Day turns the spotlight on innovative products and services available for micro and small businesses, reiterating the bank’s commitment to fulfilling their financial and advisory requirements in running successful business ventures. In step with responsible banking, the focus of Bank Muscat is clear – create a sustainable financial platform for the nation and people and thereby contribute to the country’s progress and development. Committed to supporting economic growth and sustainable development, the bank seizes every opportunity to reiterate partnership in building the nation by creating opportunities for individuals and businesses to grow and prosper.
Serving micro and small business customers, exclusive najahi centres are available across the Sultanate. Facilitating financial inclusion, Bank Muscat najahi products and services have created a benchmark, helping micro and small businesses to overcome hurdles and chart successful ventures with proper planning, financial discipline and prudent management.
Securing credit without collaterals and accessing innovative banking services have been hurdles faced by micro and small businesses. The specially designed najahi products mainly include credit facilities without collaterals to develop and grow micro and small businesses. With najahi, Bank Muscat fulfils the primary need of finance for the micro and small business segment.
The najahi suite of products include the value added najahi Current Account, najahi Flexi Loan to support working capital, business expansion and other business needs; najahi Business Credit Card; najahi Contractors Loan to help complete contracted jobs; najahi Contractors Bill Discounting to get immediate funds after completing contracted jobs and Najahi PoS Receivables financing for customers who use PoS machines for sales. All financing options are available to clients ‘collateral free’.
The value-added najahi Current Account offers differentiated services, including Business Debit Card, branded chequebook, and online banking services.
The najahi Business Debit Card offers daily withdrawal limit of OMR1,000. The business debit card helps customers to meet day-to-day cash requirements conveniently without the need to visit the teller counter for small value transactions. najahi customers can also avail multiple debit cards on the same account allowing authorised persons to make transactions on behalf of the company.
Maintaining cash flow is a challenge faced by small businesses. Addressing this critical need, Bank Muscat launched the first-of-its-kind collateral free najahi Flexi Loan facility. This facility allows customers to choose when to avail a loan and for what period. Customers pay interest only when they avail the loan and not when the facility is granted.
For short-term financing, the bank has launched najahi point of sale (PoS) financing product. The specially designed short-term finance facilitates borrowing for working capital requirements simply based on the track record of sales that business routes through their Bank Muscat PoS machines. The higher the proportion of non-cash sales the higher the loan eligibility.
The key features of najahi PoS financing include daily instalment repayments. A small amount is automatically deducted daily from customers’ bank account to repay the loan. The evergreen facility allows najahi customers to keep repaying and replenishing the loan, thereby ensuring assured cash flow
As with other najahi credit facilities, customers are not required to provide any collateral guarantee for PoS financing. The convenience and speed of najahi PoS finance help customers to meet their requirement for growth financing. In a quick and hassle-free process, customers with a 1-year PoS track record are eligible to avail the collateral-free finance.
Presently, najahi centres serve customers at Bank Muscat head office at Airport Heights and branches in MBD, Al Khuwair Souq, Al Azaiba, Seeb Souq, Maabela South, Barka Souq, Al Tareef, Buraimi, Ibri (Jubail), Sur Al Afiya, Firq and Salalah (Corporate).
Bank Muscat has launched a series of initiatives covering all segments of the SME sector in Oman. Serving as building blocks for entrepreneurs, these initiatives assume importance in the backdrop of the priority accorded by the government to develop the MSME sector in Oman.