Abstract
An entrepreneurship is a key factor for any country that aims to become competitive in the knowledge-based global market as it is viewed as a means of promoting economic growth, innovation, and creativity. This opinion has given rise to growing interest in establishing entrepreneurship educational programmes by several countries including Oman. The government of Oman has taken tourism as one of the main economic sectors to diversify its oil-based economy. This chapter focuses on the facilities provided by the government of Sultanate of Oman to encourage and motivate growth of new ventures with context to entrepreneurship education, how the government of Oman is monitoring and assessing its initiatives and strategies, planned and implemented to establish entrepreneurship education in tourism context. The chapter also proposed a conceptual framework on entrepreneurship education in tourism context which can be considered by the policy makers to measure the efficacy and efficiency of the entrepreneurship education strategies and policies.
TopIntroduction
An Entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in boosting economic activities in the country by providing job opportunities and contributing towards the development of the country gross domestic product (GDP). Considering the importance of entrepreneurship towards the economic development, entrepreneurship infrastructure and specifically education are one of the most imperative issues for any country. Within the context of Oman, the government is working to expand its sources to generate revenues and ensure employment for young population by encouraging entrepreneurship education. In this regard, the government of Oman has established institutions which provide different types of support and education to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship education represents a distinct area of innovative initiatives and approaches in the Arab countries.
The Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education have gained a lot of attention in Oman. A number of projects at national, regional or international level have been implemented to promote entrepreneurship and to deliver entrepreneurship education to the youth, unemployed and students. The government of Oman has taken some steps to promote entrepreneurship education. These steps include the availability of loans from Oman Development Bank, (ODB) incubator services, equity funding by the youth fund and development facilities for micro-business offered by SANAD programme. The ODB helps to promote entrepreneurship among young people by lending them soft loans and limiting bureaucracy. The SANAD programme offers a loan of 5,000 Omani Riyal ($ 13,000) (Bindah & Magd, 2016).
The ‘SAS’ is a national entrepreneurship program in the field of Information and communication technology (ICT). It aims at facilitating the entrepreneurs to enrich the country by establishing IT projects that foster an entrepreneurial spirit in the ICT sector in Oman. The name ‘SAS’ is derived from a locally used term which refers to any solid foundation like a house foundation. Therefore, “SAS Program” is designed to deliver the entrepreneurship foundation for creating new ICT projects to the students and jobseekers. (Omanuna, n.d.)
It is a well-known fact that tourism has become one of the rapid growing industries worldwide and Oman is no exception to it. It is expected that the country may run out of its oil resources in less than twenty years that is why the government of Oman has started to diversify its economy. Tourism being one of the sectors that has accelerated the economic growth of Oman that’s why the country has started to pay more attention to this industry and develop effective strategies for the sustainable development of this sector. The entrepreneurs in tourism business are motivated and highly encouraged, therefore the Sultanate of Oman is paying more attention to tourism entrepreneurship education.
This chapter critically analyses the facilities that are provided by the government of Oman to enhance and encourage the growth of new ventures, the challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in this sector and suggest a conceptual framework on tourism entrepreneurship education in the country. This chapter takes up a qualitative approach to reach the following objectives:
- •
To examine which strategies are adopted by the government of Oman to encourage entrepreneurship education in context to tourism.
- •
To analyse how the government of Oman is monitoring and assessing the initiatives and strategies used to implement tourism entrepreneurship education.
- •
Propose a conceptual framework that can be applied in context to Oman to establish entrepreneurship education.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Knowledge-Based Economy: A knowledge-based economy is one in which knowledge is produced, disseminated, and used; one in which knowledge is a key factor in growth, wealth creation, and employment; and one in which human capital is the driver of creativity, innovation, and the generation of new ideas, with information and communication technology (ICT) serving as an enabler.
Production-Based Economy: A production-based economy uses labour, capital, goods, and services as inputs to produce outputs of goods or services and is controlled and supervised by an institutional unit.
Entrepreneurship: The definition of entrepreneurship is a person who takes action to create a difference in the world. Whether they solve a problem that many people face every day, connect people together in ways no one has done before, or build something new that improves society, all start-up entrepreneurs have one thing in common that is they act.
Entrepreneurship Education: According to the definition of entrepreneurship education, it is a collection of formalised teachings that informs, trains, and educates anyone interested in participating in socioeconomic development through a project to promote entrepreneurship awareness, business creation, or small business development.
Economic Diversification: Economic diversification is the process of transferring an economy's income sources away from a single source and toward an increasing number of sectors and marketplaces. It has historically been used as a tactic to promote positive economic growth and development.
Tourism Industry: The tourism sector, in its broadest meaning, encompasses any firms that directly supply goods or services to assist business, pleasure, or leisure activities away from home.