Omani Investment Company (POIC) plans to expand its operations in Pakistan by reaching out to other potential areas of the country and widening its activities, POIC Managing Director Pak Oman Zafar Iqbal says. The POIC is a development finance institution (DFI), which also offers services of an investment bank. In fulfilling its development goals, the POIC is in the process of setting up the Pak Oman Microfinance Bank, Iqbal told the reporters. The Oman Government has agreed to invest $5.6 million in this venture. By assisting in the creation of sustainable income opportunities for the lower strata of the population, particularly women, Pak Oman's Microfinance Bank will aim to augment the Government of Pakistan's efforts to alleviate poverty in the country, Iqbal said. The bank will be operative early next year. With vide diversification of its portfolio from textile spinning (14%), Communications & Media (13%), food, beverages & tobacco (12%), auto & allied (9%), finance (7%), textile Value-added (6%), oil & gas-marketing and exploration (5%), transportation (5%), sugar; electronics; & pharmaceutical; (4 % each), it is actively working to start hedge products, real estate, cross border investment and micro financing. “We are actively working on product development an identification of target sectors to enhance activities in SME financing,” Iqbal said. The POIC is also working on expansion of its operations, enhancing the sphere of its activities, exploring untapped avenues of investment and financing. It is evident from the balance sheet of the company where the total assets grew to $149.04 million last year from $127.51 million previous year, Iqbal said. He said everybody has made money during the stock market boom. “We had made money through our operations, not from the boom of stock market."
