From November 2021 to June 2023 I led business environment work at the Oman Vision 2040 Unit. My title was Head of Business Environment, Investment Tools. It was a secondment. In that role I established the Invest in Oman centre. I also worked on the 2022 government-to-government deals with India, Japan and China.
This article is about that role and what I learned from it. The strategy work that narrowed Oman's investment focus from 43 sectors to 8 has its own essay. It is From 43 sectors to 8. I do not repeat it here.
The job
My task was to ease the business environment in Oman. I worked closely with decision makers at ministerial level. The work sat under Oman's National Program for Investment and Export Development. Its purpose was to make sure that Oman met the KPIs that Vision 2040 sets.
The title had two parts, and both mattered. "Business environment" is the set of conditions an investor meets in a country. "Investment tools" are the things a state builds so that an investor can act on those conditions. My job was to work on both.
The Invest in Oman centre
I established the Invest in Oman centre. The idea behind it is simple. An investor who looks at a new country has many questions and little time. Each question can lead to a different office. A centre gives the investor one place to start.
A centre inside government speaks for many offices. Each of those offices must agree to its role. That agreement is the slow part of the work. It is also the part that makes the centre useful to an investor.
The 2022 deals
In 2022 I worked on government-to-government deals with three countries:
- India: Jindal Shadeed.
- Japan: Mitsui.
- China: solar, with a value of more than USD 500 million.
A government-to-government deal is different from a private deal. Two states stand behind it. Each side has its own approvals and its own timeline. Work on these deals is mostly coordination. You keep many parties moving in the same direction, and you keep the facts the same in every room.
I was one of many people on these deals. I do not claim them as mine. I list them because they show what the unit's work was for: real investment that arrives in Oman.
Recognition
The Minister recognised me for my contribution to the Vision 2040 goals. That recognition belongs to the team as much as to me. A unit like ours only moves when many people across government move with it.
What I took from the role
Three lessons from that period still shape how I work.
An investor needs one door. The centre taught me that access is a product. If a person cannot find where to start, a good offer does not reach them. The same rule holds for any product: the first step must be easy to find.
Coordination is the real work. A government-to-government deal has many parties, and each has its own approvals. Alignment between them takes time. A large project must plan for that time from the first day.
KPIs must connect to action. Vision 2040 sets clear targets. A target only helps when each team knows which action moves it. I carry this into my current work as Head of Strategic Planning at ITHCA Group.
The secondment ended in June 2023. It gave me a view of investment from the side of the state. Today I look at investment from the side of a fund and from the side of a family business. The view from the state helps me in both.
Related: My career and From 43 sectors to 8.