On May 16 & 22 Abu Dhabi’s INJAZ delivered entrepreneurship workshops, or “Boot Camps”, for Business and IT students in the Bachelor programs at Ras Al Khaimah Women’s College.
INJAZ tours the UAE and the region bringing valuable industry experience to students, developing their business skills and awakening their imaginations to what being an entrepreneur is all about. With many successful entrepreneurs already in the workforce in Ras Al Khaimah and the UAE, students received an invaluable opportunity to learn more about what may lie ahead for them professionally.
Operations Manager for INJAZ Hassan Al Zidi participated in the following Question and Answer session while overseeing the camps at RKWC.
Hassan, can you tell us about INJAZ?
Hassan: INJAZ is a non-profit organization and a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide (est. 1919), financially supported by the Khalifa Fund. Our organization, more formally known as INJAZ Al Arab, was founded about 10 years ago in Jordan, and is now in 13 Arab countries in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region, and is found in all of the GCC countries.
What does INJAZ do?
Hassan: We connect mentors from the private sector with Emirati students from government schools. For the current sessions at RKWC, the private sector mentors are coming from General Electric and Mashreq Bank. INJAZ is focused on three main concepts – - work readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship.
Why do you think it is a valuable experience for Emirati students?
Hassan: In seven years it is predicted that there will be no government jobs, so this is a really valuable chance for students to learn how to start their own business. Plus, to be ready to enter private sector, you need to have self-confidence and the necessary skills to be successful, and the INJAZ workshops help students accomplish this.
Year 3 student Fatema Abdulla was asked about her day, and what she would say to her friends that were not able to come. “I will say it was a great opportunity, and unfortunately you missed this. When you miss a day like today, you miss something that will help you in your whole life. We learned things today that you won’t have anywhere else. Like a mall, you can have many experiences in one place. That was what today was like,”she said.
Joanne Rowe, Career Advisor for RKW, summed the day up very well. “As a platform for career development, this was an excellent opportunity, especially in RAK where jobs are not as abundant as they are in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The leveling off of government job prospects means that students need to have some techniques for other opportunities, namely the private sector and entrepreneurship. Today was an effective and powerful step in the right direction for our students planning to enter the business world,” Joanne said.
