MANY great careers and businesses have been built on hobbies. Such people have been relentless in pursuing the thrill, fun and excitement of their pastime, much like a nomad in search of fulfillment at every turn. Unfortunately, this is a state of mind that many young Saudis are not quite accustomed to for various reasons, chief of which may be the country's generally strict academic life which leaves little room for creative pursuits. Even if a student manages to survive the academic regimen with their hobby intact, little room is left for career building with what is often dismissed just as a pastime. Amal Al-Jibreen, CEO and founder of Rahalah, a non-profit group dedicated to transforming the hobbies of young Saudi's into viable careers, aims to change all that. "What we're doing here is we are trying to transform hobbies into careers, and then careers into an industry," Al-Jibreen told Saudi Gazette earlier this month, speaking at Jeddah's Al-Harthy exhibition center where Rahalah organized a three-day event showcasing the talent of young hobbyists. Rahalah, translated from Arabic, means a traveler or nomad – "someone who doesn't stop at the final destination but enjoys the journey wherever it (takes them)," Al-Jibreen said. The exhibition used Walt Disney as inspiration. "After Walt Disney established himself, he said that all of (his achievements) came from sketching a cartoon mouse," Al-Jibreen said, referring to the Walt Disney Company's icon Mickey Mouse, created in 1928. Rahalah is a volunteer effort led by alumni of King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. Al-Jibreen said the broader aim of the exhibition was to create a greater variety of resources for the Kingdom to rely on, in order to contribute to the macro economy and make the country less dependant on oil as its main source of revenue. By harnessing the initial creativity of young Saudis to start businesses, Rahalah aims to provide a strategic solution to the growing unemployment rate among Saudis – officially around 12 percent though other estimates go as high as 25 percent. More that 200 young hobbyists took part in the exhibition which featured 150 booths with varying creations ranging from neo-traditional Saudi fashion and urban photography to artistic work made by autistic children. As part of the exhibition, a series of prizes was awarded to contestants who submitted works related to the Nejd region. Explaining why the central region of Saudi Arabia was selected this year, Mona Al-Zubair, Rahalah's Strategic Planning Consultant, said, "This is a five-year exhibition and every year it focuses on a different region of the country." This inaugural year, the prize, entitled the Bandar Al-Jibreen Award for Achievement and named after Al-Jibreen's late father, went to the first, second and third place winners. The first prize consisted of a golden compass and SR75,000, the second a silver compass and SR50,000, and the third a bronze compass with SR25,000. The exhibition was not without its detractors. Sana Sejini, a creative copywriter for Fullstop Advertising, said she was disappointed with the number of people displaying their work. "This whole thing is good, but I expected to see more talent, more people," Sejini said sounding a little frustrated. "What you see on Facebook – everyone is screaming to be known and you come here and you don't see anything or any of those same people who want recognition." Ferdous Addar, an account executive at Fullstop advertising, had similar thoughts. "Before we arrived we didn't really know what this exhibition was about. We thought it was more to do with graphic design, but when we arrived it had more to do with design in general. If it was more specific it would be more beneficial to people like us looking for talent." One of the photographers with work on display, Abdullah Kurashi, said he wished there were more opportunities to display his work. He attributed the lack of exhibitions like Rahala to the absence of a creative culture.? Several other photographers shared the same feeling One of the success stories clearly evident at the show was that of Amr Al-Sheikh, managing director for 1 Ummah, a brand of clothing that uses the positive elements of globalization as its core. "The brand promotes peace and unity to people of all different races, cultures and religions," Al-Sheikh said. "When we say 1 Ummah we mean one nation for everyone, a global nation, a global message." This is precisely the message that Al-Jibreen also hopes to send out with the Rahala exhibition. She hopes to take the exhibition out of the region to places like the United States and show the world what Saudi Arabia is beyond the newspaper headlines of beheadings and terrorism: a place where art, culture and tradition permeates and echoes in the attitudes and behavior on people today. __
