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Miss Independent (MI), a new digital platform for women in Oman and the wider GCC, has launched as a community marketplace dedicated to women-led home-based, small and medium-sized businesses. The platform also empowers women in retirement, giving them a space to turn their experience and passions into a new chapter after their careers.
From home bakers and perfume makers to tutors, salon owners and event planners, these businesses form a large and underserved segment that needs customers and better visibility. With free membership, MI delivers both in one app, combining a social network, an integrated marketplace and hand-selected coaches and consultants.
MI was co-founded by Omani entrepreneur Omniya Al Barwani, together with Noha Al Barwani, Balqees Al Barwani and Heba Al Barwani. Women who want to start or scale a business often have to piece together several tools: one app for visibility, another for selling, and others for networking and finding mentors. Many also want a space that feels safe, supportive and designed for them. MI was created to remove that friction, wherever a woman is in her business journey or stage of life, from first-time sellers to women in retirement. Beyond selling, MI is built for long-term growth, giving members ongoing opportunities to network, learn from fellow women founders and draw on expert guidance, turning one-off visibility into a sustained network of peer support.
Women lead only 14 per cent of SMEs across the Arab world, compared with a global average of 34 per cent [1]. In Oman, women entrepreneurs are looking to build stronger partnerships (38 per cent) and improve customer acquisition (32 per cent) as they grow their businesses [2].
Many women in the region rely on word of mouth and peer networks to win customers. MI is designed to strengthen exactly these levers, giving women-led home and small businesses a ready-made audience and storefront without the upfront cost.
“Across Oman and the Gulf, there are so many women with real talent, strong ideas and small businesses that simply lack visibility, a network and the right guidance,” said Omniya Al Barwani, Co-founder of Miss Independent. “We built MI to be a virtual land of opportunities, a place made by women for women, where every woman can find her path and grow her business her way. It took time to build a platform that truly serves women entrepreneurs, more than a decade of persistence and many fresh starts, and that same determination is exactly what we want to celebrate in every woman who joins us.”
Members can open their own MI Store and sell directly to customers, promote their businesses using Create Your Ad, a built-in design studio with ready-made templates, and find and book hand-selected coaches, consultants, therapists and trainers within the app.
The platform also features MI Talks, a community forum where members exchange advice across 27 categories, including Job Centre, Arts and Crafts, Gourmet, Mother and Child and Retirement, alongside profiles, posts, collaborations, chat and a women-focused events listing. Filtered search by name, location, delivery area, category and membership type makes it easy for customers and fellow members to discover women-led businesses, while direct in-app chat with the founders keeps the community closely connected to the team behind it.
Membership is tiered by 4 business stages. The first three are currently free; these include: Tulip (Get Inspired), designed for women discovering their passion; Orchid (Grow Your Business), which supports women with existing businesses seeking visibility and clients; and Dahlia (Build Your Own Store), which is for women selling products through their own MI Store. Only coaches and service providers are charged a certain percentage of the fee they offer.
Ahead of its official launch, MI has already attracted more than 125 women members and over 46 women-led businesses have registered on the platform. More than 10 hand-selected service providers from five countries, namely Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Egypt, are offering expertise in wellbeing, careers, leadership, branding and PR, with eight of them serving clients worldwide.
MI is available to download on the App Store and Google Play.