350 Trainees, 60 Hackers: Sohar's Digital Entrepreneurship Week

Sohar has spent the past four days trying to show that Oman's digital economy push doesn't have to be run from Muscat. The Office of the Governor of North Al Batinah organised a Digital Entrepreneurship Week from 15 to 18 October 2026 under its new "Raqmi 1" (Digital 1) banner. The programme included workshops, panel discussions, a weekend hackathon, a cybersecurity awareness initiative and a freelance-work partnership. Oman's Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology was patron.

📌 Key Takeaways

• What: A four-day Digital Entrepreneurship Week in Sohar, 15-18 October 2026, organised by the Office of the Governor of North Al Batinah under the "Raqmi 1" initiative.
• Who backed it: Eng. Saeed bin Hamoud Al Maawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and IT, was patron. MTCIT, the SME Development Authority (Riyada), the Oman Investment Authority and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority all took part.
• Turnout: More than 350 people had registered for the training workshops, and more than 60 had registered for the "Raqmi 1 Lab" hackathon, as of launch day.
• Concrete outputs: A "Safe Digital Society" initiative to train 30 digital awareness leaders over six months, and a cooperation agreement with the "Musallih" services platform to create freelance work for Omanis.
• Still to come: Hackathon winners were due to be recognised at the closing session on Sunday 18 October. No results had been published at the time of writing.

🗓️ What happened in Sohar

The governorate announced the event in advance. On 11 October, Al Roya reported that the week would run from 15 to 18 October. It listed four aims: building a digital entrepreneurship culture, helping emerging digital companies grow, examining the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy, and showing how new technologies support business sustainability. The same report named the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry and several private-sector institutions as participants, alongside MTCIT, Riyada and the Oman Investment Authority.

The event opened on Thursday 15 October, with Governor Mohammed bin Suleiman Al Kindi attending, according to Al Roya's launch-day coverage. The Oman News Agency's English report uses the title "Digital Leadership Week". The Arabic name, "Usbu' al-Riyada al-Raqmiya", is more accurately translated as Digital Entrepreneurship Week, so readers may see both names.

👥 Who led it

Eng. Nasser bin Saeed Al Maamari gave the opening address. He is Director General of Administrative and Financial Affairs and heads the governorate's Digital Transformation Executive Team. Al-Youm reported that he described the week as a national gathering for entrepreneurs, experts and decision-makers working in emerging technologies, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and IT. Dr. Nasser bin Mohammed Al Fanna, Director of the Technology Programmes Office at MTCIT, also spoke at the opening.

🧪 Inside the "Raqmi 1 Lab" hackathon

The hackathon was the most hands-on part of the week. Al Roya reported that more than 60 people had registered for "Mukhtabar Raqmi 1" (Digital Lab 1). It ran on Friday and Saturday, 16-17 October, with expert judges. Participants worked on digital solutions to set challenges and built them into prototypes.

Al-Youm added that teams received mentoring during the event and that a panel judged projects on three criteria: innovation, feasibility and impact. The Oman News Agency said the week would end on Sunday with a review of its main outputs and recommendations and an award ceremony for participants and hackathon winners.

What we don't know yet: None of the coverage we reviewed disclosed the prize amounts, the number of teams that reached the final, or the names of the winners. We will report the results once the governorate publishes them.

🛡️ Two concrete deliverables beyond the stage

Many regional tech weeks end up being mostly speeches. This one included at least two commitments that can be checked later:

• Safe Digital Society: The Governor's Office and White City Investment Company launched an initiative to train 30 digital awareness leaders over six months. Their role is to promote cybersecurity and safe use of technology in the community, according to Al Roya.
• Musallih platform agreement: The governorate put into effect a cooperation agreement with "Musallih", an app that books air-conditioning and refrigeration inspection, maintenance and repair. Al Roya reported that the aim is to create freelance work opportunities for Omanis.

📚 The training track

Workshops were the biggest draw. Al Roya reported more than 350 registrations on launch day, with sign-ups still open to students, entrepreneurs and specialists. Al-Youm listed the topics:

🧭 What "Raqmi 1" is meant to become

Al-Youm reported that the governorate's initiative has four strategic tracks:

• The digital business environment
• AI applications across sectors
• Smart industry applications
• Skills and entrepreneurship

Speakers placed the initiative within the National Digital Economy Programme. According to the same report, the programme's first phase (2021-2025) digitised more than 2,200 government services and permits and trained more than 11,000 young people through the "Makeen" initiative. That phase also launched the Unified Government Services Portal, the "Tajawob" platform and the Omani AI language model "Mueen". Speakers said a second phase, covering 2026-2030, is being prepared for announcement.

Sohar has seen hackathons before. The week fits a wider pattern in Oman's ecosystem calendar, where incubation and challenge programmes increasingly run outside the capital. Our roundup of startup and AI programmes open in Oman this fall shows how many of these opportunities are now spread across the governorates.

⚖️ A realistic read

The week deserves credit for specific numbers, such as 350+ workshop registrants, 60+ hackathon participants and 30 awareness leaders, and for a named commercial partnership. Some gaps remain. No budget has been disclosed for Raqmi 1, and there is no published timeline for its four tracks. It also isn't clear whether the hackathon prototypes will get incubation, funding or pilot contracts after the closing ceremony. The real test is whether those prototypes become working businesses in North Al Batinah. The organisers' own goal, as ONA reported, is to turn ideas into investment opportunities and partnerships for the governorate's digital economy.

🇴🇲 Why this matters for Oman

North Al Batinah is one of Oman's main industrial and logistics regions, centred on Sohar. A digital entrepreneurship track there spreads the National Digital Economy Programme beyond Muscat, which is a regional-development goal of Oman Vision 2040. The two concrete pieces, community cybersecurity awareness leaders and app-based freelance work for Omanis, connect directly to digital safety and employment. If the hackathon winners receive real follow-up support and the second phase of the national programme gives governorates like this one clear targets, Raqmi 1 could become a model other regions copy.