15 Business Leaders Share Success with Saudi Students

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - 16 June 2010: As the 1430-1431 school year ends, INJAZ-Saudi Arabia celebrates the grand ending with HRH Princess Sitta Bint Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is a pioneer in social development activities, and her anticipated participation in one of the programs being the Business Leaders Campaign. INJAZ-Saudi Arabia's Business Leaders Campaign (BLC) for the current school year has been a resounding success.  The BLC saw 15 senior Saudi business leaders sharing their insight, success stories and achievements with Saudi students.

The business leaders visited 15 different male and female high schools in a period of 15 days where 3260 students were given the opportunity to meet and listen to the business people and gain a unique understanding of the entrepreneurial world as well as dramatically increase their financial literacy, thanks to INJAZ-Saudi Arabia initiative.

INJAZ-Saudi Arabia is part of the Workforce Readiness Initiative, a global program which aims to boost financial literacy and awareness of entrepreneurship amongst youth.  Over 9 million students are enrolled annually in the programme across 116 countries.

INJAZ-Saudi Arabia is inspired by the slogan, "Let their success be your inspiration." which emphasizes the concepts of persistence and proper planning.  This was delivered to the students through the rich stories of the challenges of the business world and how each of the speakers were able to meet and overcome them to achieve great success.

The leading business men and women who carried out the program included: Abdulkareem Abu Alnaser, CEO of NCB; Ihab Lenjawi, Vice-Deputy Area Manger of SABB; Dr. Naela Attar Head, Board Member of Jeddah Women's Committee of the Saudi Management Association; Nahed Tahe, CEO, Gulf One Investment Bank; Faten Alyafi, Senior Director of Savola Group; Dr. Aisha Natto, Member of the JCCI Board and Owner of Eye 2 Eye Optical; Hani Khoja; CEO of Elixir Company; Waleed Al Banawi,  CEO of Banawi Group; Enas Hashani, CEO of Rummana Company; and Ahmed Mushrif, CEO of Zie Company. With this, INJAZ-Saudi Arabia celebrated the grand ending of this school year's BLC campaign with the participation of HRH Princess Sita Bint Abdullah Bint Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is a pioneer in social development activities.

"It is defiantly a great honor to gain the added value of the respected philanthropist HRH Princess Sita's contribution" said Mrs. Ola Banaja, Business Development Director of INJAZ-Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Nael Fayez, CEO of INJAZ-Saudi Arabia, said, "Our vision is to educate young people to equip them with the necessary skills for the employment market.  The methodology we use is utilized by our international partners, which aims to provide experiences and understanding of life skills beyond that which they gain in universities and schools. It is founded on our strong belief of the importance of inspiring and creating passion, particularly in high school students.  The business leader campaign, through the sharing of entrepreneurs' experiences, sharing of success stories and best practices, will help students make better choices for the future."

Mr. Fayez added, "INJAZ-Saudi Arabia's strategy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, is to reach 100,000 male and female Saudi students by 2018.  As the programs are outside of school assessment, students are motivated to learn and acquire new skills and knowledge without the focus on test scores.  INJAZ-Saudi Arabia also seeks to secure practical work experience opportunities for high school students in major national companies for 3 months during the summer break."

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FURTHER INFORMATION
Injaz-Saudi - www.injaz-saudi.org
INJAZ-Saudi program is an extension of JA Worldwide® (Junior Achievement) the world's largest organization, that was established in USA in 1919, dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. JA is reaching today nearly nine million students in one hundred and sixteen countries. In 2004, INJAZ Al-Arab was founded in Jordan as member of "Junior Achievement Worldwide" and is today the regional office of 13 Arabic countries: Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The program emphasized efficiency and effectiveness targeting youth between (11-18) year-old. Benefiting students' number in the MENA region reached 150,000 during the year 2009. In 2007, INJAZ-Saudi Arabia was launched with the cooperation of INJAZ Al-Arab Regional Office by signing an agreement with it to start the (company program) in the second semester of the academic school year 2007/2008. What makes INJAZ-Saudi Arabia unique is its entity as non-profitable organization, its reputation as member of JA Worldwide and its delivery mechanism emphasized by entrepreneurs or employees from private sectors. Furthermore, the all programs are delivered at no cost to either the student or school.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Mai Kholief, Hill & Knowlton
T: 02 6523232 x 207
M: 055 518 0425
E: mai.kholief@hillandknowlton.com

Abdullah Abdulghani, Hill & Knowlton
T: 02 6523232 x 213
M: 050 776 1029
E: abdullah.abdulghani@hillandknowlton.com

Mission
An initiative with a mission to provide leadership, entrepreneurship, economic and life skills programs through a strategic partnership with the private sector and the Ministry of Education. Highly experienced volunteers from the private sector invests their time and share their experience and success with the students in order to prepare them for work and productivity and engage them in a professional life early on, developing their sense of citizenship and responsibility.  

Vision
INJAZ-Saudi Arabia vision is to deliver pioneer, hands-on, programs to 100,000 male and female Saudi students in major metropolitan cities of the kingdom by 2018, in partnership with the business community, educators and volunteers.

© Press Release 2010