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"Rooo7Oman" by Hanan Al Hassani

Abstract
Oman is one of the countries in the Gulf region exploring opportunities introduced by the Internet. This article highlights my experience starting a small business, the birth of its commerce website, the challenges we faced, and future areas we need to develop.

Article
Life in developing countries is going in a new direction as technologies develop and the Internet increases in capabilities. In the Gulf region, many institutions and individuals have focused on establishing their e-business and e-commerce websites, which can easily boost the economy by facilitating the transactions of buying, selling, and transferring funds online.

Oman, in particular, is one of the countries exploring Internet opportunities. Represented by educational institutes and by Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM), Oman has taken a big step toward the establishment and support of e-commerce and e-business initiatives in the country.

As a student in the Information System Department at the College of Commerce and Economics at Sultan Qaboos University, I am very proud of myself and of other Omani students who established the first real e-commerce website with complete sale transactions, including payment and shipment.

My entrepreneurial experience started with a course called e-Business Design, Strategy and Infrastructure. This course gave us the opportunity to write our first business plan for our online business. At this stage, I learned how to study and analyze the project before taking further steps. Generally, at the early stages of starting a business, the entrepreneurs identify the business unit elements, such as vision, mission, driving force, core competencies, and stakeholders. Before establishing an online business, the entrepreneurs should also study the industry and the competition, formalize a strategy, and design a plan for the implementation stage and a strategy for the reassessment.

I wanted to build a website selling the Omani Arabic perfumes, bokour and frankincense, to the rest of the world. Arabic perfumes have been known for hundreds of years for the refreshing characteristics and the bokours, when scattered on burning coals, are known for producing enchanting aromas. The perfumes and the bokour were meant for gift packages, but with the frankincense, I was targeting medical companies who use the scents for medicines.

As I began building the business website, I identified all the business categories, and analyzed the industry and competition by performing a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. I used external information to study the potential opportunities and threats, and internal information to identify the strengths and weaknesses of my online business. Then, I formulated a strategic plan for implementation and reassessment. Also, I conducted research to prepare a good flow of the value chain by considering the supply and the demand sides, with focus on customer service.

As part of a course called e-Commerce Technology, we further constructed the website, located at rooo7oman.com. Customer service was our top priority, so along with three other female colleagues, I uploaded all the images, text, and information related to the business into the database. We also worked hard to handle the payment mechanism, the security of the website, and finalization of fund transfers from customers to the merchant account.

While working on the online project, I also experienced the real business environment by selling the goods on campus. To practice real business issues, I dealt with industry suppliers, performed all the business transactions, tested the products and dealt with the customers.

When building the site, we faced many technical and financial issues. In Oman, the banking industry is not ready to support e-commerce sites. We outsourced our payment mechanism and registered with systems and banks outside Oman to handle these issues. This demonstrated that the banks in Oman and the surrounding countries should start focusing on the new technologies related to e-business and e-commerce.
Both the Omani government and private sectors could improve in these areas. As an Omani female, I recognize that this could help women who wish to start their own online businesses, but are also home caring for their families.

Student Bio:

Hanan Al Hassani was a student in the College of Information Systems at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, when she came up with the idea of selling Arabic perfumes, bokour, and frankinsence online. She and her team-mates submitted a business plan to the Zayed University e-biz challenge (www.ebizchallenge.com) and have since turned the idea into a successful e-business at http://rooo7oman.com. Ms. Al Hassani is responsible for different aspects related to business like dealing with suppliers, sales, exports, and supervising and maintaining the Web site.

Advisor Bio:

Dr. Nada Khatib currently is a consultant at Sultan Qaboos University, College of Commerce and Economics, Information Systems Department. She has a Ph.D. in Computer Aided Engineering, Electrical Engineering from Imperial College Of Science & Technology, London, UK, M.Sc. in Computer Science from University Of California, Riverside, USA, MBA from University of ST. Thomas, Houston, Texas, USA, and a B.Sc. from University College Of Swansea, Wales, and U.K. She has 15 years of USA experience covering different industries including: Financial/Banking (CHASE BANK, DELOITTE & TOUCHE, BANK Of AMERICA), Oil & Gas (EXXON MOBIL, SHELL, AMOCO), Pharmaceutical (ELI LILY), Criminal Justice (NEW YORK, ALBANY), Telecommunications (ALLTEL, MOTOROLA, Consulting Services (ALLTEL, COOPERS & LYBRAND), Training industries (SUN MICROSYSTEMS & PARTNERS, ORACLE, NEW HORIZONS, PPI.), and Energy Trading (PG&E). Before joining SQU, she managed her own small company that is specialized in Java Technologies training and consulting, in support of E-Systems development and administration.