Businessman Kiran Asher remembers coming to Oman in 1974 along with his wife to trace the family business and from then there is no looking back for him
PRAVASISAMWAD.COM
Kiran Asher, Co-Founder and Group Managing Director of Al Ansari Group of Companies, has fond memories of Oman. He traces his roots in Oman since the days of his grandfather who was bestowed with the title ‘Kazi’ (judge) by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik’s grandfather, Sultan Taimur.
Kiran Asher remembers coming to Oman in 1974 along with his wife to trace the family business and from then there is no looking back for him.
Recently he was given Oman’s long term residency permit on the inaugural day of the scheme.
In an interview with the Oman Observer newspaper, Kiran Asher lauded Oman as home for many. “This scheme will now formally allow investors to make this their home. For long term residents like me, this is a comforting move as Oman is my only home and this scheme allows me to comfortably make it my official home,” he said.
“The scheme coupled with other initiatives, like the 100 per cent business ownership, is a boon for investing community and will help build the confidence. The long term residency scheme is a definite attraction for foreign investors, as it lends stability and longevity of businesses in Oman.”
In the Middle East region, Oman, according to him, is considered a home away from home for many. Its beauty, peace, cleanliness, tolerance towards all religions, varied education institutes, and hospitality are key reasons people want to stay in the country.
Kiran Asher gave a detailed interview to Pravasi Samwad:
PS: How this scheme is going to help improve the business scenario in the country?
Kiran Asher: The long-term residency scheme is a definite attraction for foreign investors, as it lends stability and longevity of businesses in Oman. The scheme coupled with other initiatives like the 100 per cent business ownership, is a boon for investing community and will help build the confidence. In the Middle East region Oman is considered a home away from home for so many – Its beauty, peace, cleanliness, tolerance towards all religions, varied education institutes, its hospitality are some of the key reasons. This scheme will now formally allow investors to make this their home. For long term residents like myself – this is a comforting move as Oman is my only home and this scheme allows me to comfortably make this my official home.
PS: Do you really see the revival of the economy in the coming days?
Kiran Asher: The government is taking the right steps to achieve its objectives of Oman 2040 vision. The government is also prioritizing reducing its debt and taking measures to reduce its expenses. Timing of the revival may not be in coming days but the path being followed is correct and the focus of government on all round development will eventually yield fruitful results.
PS: What are the challenges the business community is facing during current times?
Kiran Asher: Managing liquidity due to delayed collection remains the foremost challenge for most businesses. Reduction in overall business – reduced projects, delayed decisions on releasing/continuing projects is making it difficult for large organisations to plan their future. Locally there is also an increase in visa renewal costs and labour laws that don’t allow for easy in and out of labour. Legal costs for most organizations are increasing due to contractual disputes which in the past used to be resolved by negotiations. Externally the erratic supply chain, unplanned increase in freight costs and unknown increase in prices of raw materials is adding to the challenge of managing profitability. In addition, in many cases the foreign investors bring their own local contractors and supplies increasing the competition for the small Oman market.
PS: What solutions do you suggest to the business community in this challenging time?
Kiran Asher: Business community is facing multitude of challenges – shirking business pipeline, delayed collections, delayed projects, legal costs, increase bank interest rates, VAT, increase visa renewal costs, limitations on obtaining labor clearances etc. With this it would be great to have the government assist in clearing old outstandings, creating a fast track for completion of legal cases and easing the labor laws to allow a free movement of labor in and out.
“The government is taking the right steps to achieve its objectives of Oman 2040 vision. The government is also prioritizing reducing its debt and taking measures to reduce its expenses. Timing of the revival may not be in coming days but the path being followed is correct and the focus of government on all round development will eventually yield fruitful results.”
PS: What is your expectation from the Government and authorities?
Kiran Asher: Government should continue its drive to open the economy and welcome foreign investment. It can also consider easing the labor law policies for free flow of labor. It can also promote tourism to allow more and more people to experience the hidden gem Oman is in the region. Government can also consider releasing some projects to gain the confidence of the business community while slowly easing the community into Public Private Partnerships and Foreign investors. Authorities can continue to focus on providing vocational training to the local brothers and sisters to take on more and more of the technical roles currently heavily taken by the expatriate population.
PS: Did the business community learn any lesson from the current situation even though it was totally unprecedented and sudden?
Kiran Asher: All the businesses have learnt an important lesson of cost control. I am sure, everyone had a re-look of their processes and found ways of improving the same. The importance of taking care of employees during this crisis also gave lot of corporates new perspective to handle – those whose health was impacted by Covid-19, those who were unable to travel to their loved ones during the lockdowns, and those who lost loved ones.
The situation also enabled us to become more technology savvy. This includes not only using more tools to work remotely but also the increase in e-commerce platforms – allowing for an alternative mode of doing business. This situation has also taught us all to work more smartly – travel is not always the only way to resolve problems – Zoom and Teams can work fine. We don’t have to all be present in the same room and location to have meetings – This means we can meet for shorter periods and more frequently.
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