Drive to groom entrepreneurs and empower youth

Entrepreneurship will be the focus of a week-long set of free workshops and talks to be held in Bahrain next month.

The Manama Entrepreneurship and Youth Empowerment Week starts on May 7 at locations across the city and is aimed at encouraging people to set up their own businesses in order to bolster the economy and bring down employment rates, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

“The week is the second phase of a project we launched last year,” Capital Governorate strategic planning and projects management head Yusuf Lori told the GDN.

“We had 50 spaces then and this time we’re going to have 300.

“Last time we had more of a focus on employment, whereas now we want to focus on entrepreneurship.

“We’ll start the week with a forum and then hold a series of workshops with our different partners.

“We have a variety of topics for the week because the Capital Governor wants Manama’s youth to be able to use their talents effectively and match the needs of the people with their talent.”

Subjects to be covered include financial education, agriculture, gold, jewelry and banking, he said.

“We chose the topics by looking at the pilot study last year and seeing what areas haven’t been covered or where the coverage wasn’t sufficient.

“We also wanted this to be a sustainable programme so we’ll keep studying it, see the outcomes and adapt.

“This week will be free to attend because we want to provide people with this service.”

Creo Innovative Solutions managing director Noora Al Haddad, who will kickstart the week with a forum at the Diplomat Radisson Blu, Hotel Residence, and Spa on May 7, said speakers will include former Talabat.com chief executive Mohammed Jaffar and celebrated author, broadcaster and lecturer Dr William Baker.

“Attendees will learn about the different support schemes available,” she said.

“Our target is young entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises and the Bahraini youth in general.

“We’re looking at the unemployed and the employed as we’re trying to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship.

“For instance, someone could be an employee having an entrepreneurial mindset.

“We’re trying to develop this further to the benefit of organisations, individuals and the economy in general.”

A panel discussion called “Your First Step” focusing on the support programmes open to entrepreneurs will be one of the key features of the first day, Al Haddad said.

“The second discussion panel is an entrepreneurs’ dialogue, where successful entrepreneurs in Bahrain will share their experiences, what motivated them and how they overcame the challenges they had to face,” she said.

The forum will be followed by two workshops led by Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) and by Dr Baker.

“Dr. Baker’s workshop will be about a new concept on creativity in the arts – how to take your creativity and turn it into a business,” said Al Haddad.

“In Bahrain, we have a lot of people who are really creative but they don’t know what to do next and how to turn that into a business.

“Meanwhile, the BDB workshop is about identifying your passion.”

Speakers at the forum include BDB non-financial services deputy general manager Shaikh Hisham bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Family Bank board member and chief executive Dr Khalid Abdulla Ateeq and Small and Medium Enterprises Society president Dr Abdulhasan Al Dairi.

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