Sharakah extends Sharia compliant financing to Zameeli

Published: 2026-06-17T10:24:53.000Z

Oman's startup scene runs at a quieter tempo than the Gulf's larger markets, which is why a single deal between a local freelance platform and a state backed SME development body deserves a closer look. Sharakah, the country's leading SME development company, has extended a Sharia compliant working capital facility to Zameeli, a digital platform connecting Omani freelancers with small and medium enterprises. The amount has not been disclosed, but the structure and timing of the deal say a lot about how Oman is trying to grow its homegrown tech businesses without forcing them through the harsher gauntlet of international venture capital. Zameeli sits in an interesting corner of the digital economy. Founded in 2021 by Tariq Al Habsi and Aysha Alqmashouai, the platform links SMEs with a network of local creative talent, including designers, marketers, videographers and content creators, allowing smaller businesses to access flexible, project based work without the overhead of hiring full timers. Reporting from earlier this year put the user base at around 1,369 registered clients, including high profile names like Omran and the Ministry of Information, alongside roughly 3,368 Omani freelancers. That kind of supply and demand match is exactly what a working capital facility is designed to scale, helping the platform absorb more transactions without running into cash flow constraints. The lender's identity is the part that gives this story its broader meaning. Sharakah was set up by royal decree in 1998 as one of Oman's earliest SME development initiatives, and it has spent decades providing exactly this kind of patient, mission aligned capital to local companies. Extending a Sharia compliant working capital facility, structured to comply with Islamic finance principles such as avoiding interest, fits its dual mandate of supporting Omani business and respecting local financial preferences. For Zameeli, the facility funds operational growth, technology improvements and expansion plans without diluting the founders, an important consideration for a young company that has already raised through equity crowdfunding via the local fintech Mamun. The deal also illustrates a quietly important Omani model. Rather than relying on imported venture capital, the country has built a layered ecosystem where state development bodies, fintech platforms and government related entities can all contribute capital and demand to local startups. That can produce slower growth curves than the Gulf's larger markets, but it tends to build companies that are deeply rooted in their home economy rather than chasing rapid regional expansion. The regional read is straightforward. Across the Middle East and North Africa, the freelance and creator economy has been growing fast, particularly in markets with young, digitally fluent populations and rising SME activity. Sharia compliant financing for technology platforms is becoming an increasingly important strand of that story, as FinTech's and SME lenders in Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE find structures that work for both founders and faith based investors. A modest working capital facility for a freelance platform in Muscat may not grab regional headlines, but it points to a more durable kind of startup financing that the wider GCC is increasingly leaning on.