Raffdukum

Many government and private institutions are making outstanding efforts and achieving high, and even excellent levels of performance. But if the experience does not end with achieving effective communication with the target audiences, there will still be a missing link. Communication is an important stage in institutional work, especially when dealing with stakeholders from different sectors.

Al-Raffd Fund is an important institution in the entrepreneurial scene in the Sultanate of Oman, especially from the funding side. Since the Fund deals with a large number of stakeholders and a wide range of entrepreneurs or future entrepreneurs, it was vital to have an effective communication across all media and marketing channels. In record time, the Fund successfully established its name as an important financing window for Oman’s entrepreneurs.

Within its institutional work, all applications submitted to the Fund will be subject to a system of auditing and assessment, then follow up, that keeps those who deal with the Fund in continuous communication with it. This means that opens communication windows must be available. Today, there is no easier way of communication with all users than social media.

Over time, another challenge has emerged when some users mixed between the mandate of the Fund and other authorities. Explaining the difference required a great deal of effort every time. Therefore, Al-Raffd Fund contacted Alamah Marketing to propose an initiative that contributed to more effective communication with the public, and transparently conveyed feedback from the beneficiaries of the Fund’s services, other parties such as media persons and social media bloggers, and other financial institutions in the Sultanate.

Alamah proposed the “Rafdukum” initiative, which was an integrated initiative aiming at not only promoting the Fund and its efforts, but also supporting Fund beneficiaries, marketing their projects, and achieving several other objectives. The idea was based on organizing periodic meetings between Fund officials, headed by the Chief Executive Officer, and social media bloggers, media persons, beneficiaries and specialists in the sectors supported by the Fund. The venue will be one of the main projects subsidised by the Fund to allow attendees to discover and support such an experience by sharing with their followers and readers the Omani success stories that make us all proud.

Both Alamah and Al-Raffd Fund have been keen on developing “Rafdukum” editions instantly. The first edition was held at Al-Qasr Restaurant, a project subsidised by the Fund. This edition was characterised by a transparent and bold dialogue between diverse attendees, including social media influencers, Fund beneficiaries, expert entrepreneurs and businessmen and a number of journalists from local newspapers. The dialogue was covered by the Fund’s social media accounts through direct Tweeting and documented in photos and videos.

The second edition of “Rafdukum” was held at “Itfaa” project premises, a project specialising in the field of firefighting and safety. During this edition, and due to the large number of questions about permits and services related to the Ministry of Manpower, a representative of the ministry was invited to take part in the dialogue, in addition to the audience and the CEO. Those who wanted to attend the event were requested to fill out a special form. The second edition covered a practical experience on how to use fire extinguishers manufactured by “Itfaa Figher Fighting Equipment” and was documented in photos and video as well as through live tweeting.

In addition to answering a lot of questions and comments about the Fund and other entities, and providing everyone the opportunity to make their comments and ask their questions to the Fund in a transparent and comfortable atmosphere, “Rafdukum” has also succeeded in promoting the beneficiary projects that hosted the initiative and in forming a network of ambassadors and friends of both the Fund and the projects subsidized by the Fund.

The hashtag #Rafdukum went viral on social media and became on both occasions a trend on Twitter. Alamah has managed several planning, implementation and reporting aspects during this event, which presented a model for effective communication between a public authority and the social media audience.