JEDDAH — INJAZ Al-Arab, the regional office of Junior Achievement Worldwide, launched ‘Expand Your Horizon' to an audience of thousands of entrepreneurs, heads of state and high level government officials, global entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and young entrepreneurs at the 5th Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Marrakech. Established as an initiative to reduce youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), ‘Expand Your Horizon' involves a coalition of global entities from growth industries focused on showcasing employment and internship opportunities available in the region. The program will provide information about these key growth sectors with an aim to empower youth to make more informed decisions about their future career paths and to steer them towards viable work experience opportunities. The pilot program will center on five growth sectors including: aviation, through a partnership with Boeing; hospitality, through a partnership with Marriott; media, through a partnership with MBC Hope; entrepreneurship, through a partnership with Wamda; and logistics, through a partnership with Aramex. Other major supporters include Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Bayt.com, YouGov and McKinsey. Rachid Benmokhtar, Moroccan Minister of National Education and Professional Training, said “it gives me great pleasure to express my wholehearted admiration for INJAZ Al-Maghrib. Its mission to build awareness among young people and prepare them for the business world is unique. It is masterfully filling a gap by bringing companies into the heart of school and universities.” “Youth unemployment in the Middle East is on the rise and is currently the highest in the world,” said Soraya Salti, CEO of INJAZ Al-Arab. “The results of various studies indicate that obtaining employment is amongst the biggest challenges faced by young people in our region. It was with this in mind that ‘Expand Your Horizon' was developed. The program will focus on educating youth about the industries with the most potential and linking existing opportunities with capable applicants. Our partners have been instrumental in shaping this campaign that will inevitably encourage youth to think more critically about the industries they should be working in and will connect top students with global industry leaders.” To gauge youth perception of job opportunities in the growth sectors, a survey was recently conducted by the region's leader careers site Bayt.com and global research company, YouGov. There were two main highlights from the preliminary analysis. Firstly, the survey demonstrated that the majority of respondents stated they were “not sure” about whether there are available job opportunities in aviation, hospitality or media industries. Secondly, youth are driven by two main factors when choosing their field of study: fit with career goals and perceived career opportunities. — SG
