To foster new relationships among member companies throughout the network of U.S. Chamber of Commerce affiliates in the GCC (AmChams), the ‘Oman American Business Center’ will co-host its first-ever Virtual Speed Networking Event on April 5 via Zoom.

Seven affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the GCC will invite their member companies to participate in the event, which will facilitate fast-moving brief networking sessions for business owners and executives. Attendees will be placed into rooms with a few other individuals, for 4 minutes at a time. In this way, each attendee will meet dozens of other professionals in the GCC and be given many chances to share their own business with others.

AmChams in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, KSA, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait represent over 1,000 member companies and millions of dollars of U.S. investment in the region. They are the go-to organizations in each country for anything U.S. trade-related.

The event will also double as the official launch of an exclusive LinkedIn group: "Members of AmChams in the GCC". This group will serve as a professional development and networking group where current AmCham members may post articles, questions, opportunities, promotions, job postings, and discussion topics.

For some business leaders, even very successful ones, LinkedIn can be seen as exciting, but daunting: a necessary tool, an important platform, but also new and possibly challenging to understand how to capitalise upon. For this reason, to take full advantage of the new regional group, AmCham members are invited to receive a FREE one-on-one consulting session with Oman’s LinkedIn expert Mohammed Al Tamami after the session. Mohammed is also offering companies LinkedIn coaching for up to five team members from members’ sales and or marketing teams and respective leaders. "Linkedin as a social media tool that focuses on the professional community, is no different from email", says Mohammed Al Tamami. "The learning curve is how to capitalize on the platform and leverage it for your purpose."

"Certain events actually are better on ZOOM," says Rebecca Olson, Executive Director of the OABC, "and this is one of them. Covid-19 has strengthened regional collaboration between all AmChams as we continue to find unique ways to connect, develop business relationships, and find new opportunities throughout the GCC. There is a really great energy that comes with so many fast-paced introductions in just one hour. We receive great feedback every time from business leaders who were very glad they showed up and made new connections."

As the official affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Oman, the OABC is devoted to supporting the development of commercial relations between Oman and the U.S., but also focuses heavily on networking Oman’s business community through unique events and programs year-round.