DOHA: The “Arab Youth and Entrepreneurship” conference, co-organised by Silatech and Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI), got off here yesterday.
The three-day event, designed to spur coordination of entrepreneurship initiatives among governments, civil society and the private sector, is held under the patronage of H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.
Delivering a speech at the opening session Dr Tarik Yousef, CEO of Silatech, underscored the need for empowering Arab youth and enhancing their skills for the region’s sustainable development.
The partnership between potential stakeholders in the region would help promote Arab youth and the communities culturally, economically and socially, through open dialogues and bold and innovative ideas, he said.
Abdullah Al Nuaim, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Arab Institute for Urban Development said the conference would debate important issue centred on encouraging young people to the initiative and take the reins themselves. He said the Arab world was going through strange times.
Nearly 300 delegates from throughout the Arab world, leading local Arab government officials, corporate executives, researchers, NGO representatives, youth leaders and the media are attending the meet, who would share experiences and insights into how to better promote and support entrepreneurship initiatives for young people.
Silatech and AUDI are co-organising the event in partnership with the Global Partnership for Youth Employment, the World Bank, and others. Qatar Shell is Gold Sponsor for the conference.
The organisers noted that the Arab region has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the world. Over the past decade, a large number of initiatives have been introduced to improve employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people; however, most have not made a tangible impact nationally.
According to Silatech Director of Research and Policy, Dr Nader Kabbani: “There have been many successful examples of entrepreneurship interventions throughout our region. However, their impact has been limited because the approaches frequently have been one-off initiatives without significant cross-sectoral collaboration. We hope, through this conference, to spur policy makers and local government officials, civil society and the private sector to combine their individual efforts in order to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact, and make a tangible difference in the lives the region’s youth.”
Organisations participating in the conference include the Youth Employment Network (international), Qatar Foundation, Glowork (Saudi Arabia), Al Amal Bank (Yemen), the American University of Beirut (Lebanon) and the Zikra Initiative (Jordan).
The Peninsula
