Wednesday, January 25, 2012

An overriding passion for recognising talent


If not us, who? — The TEDx Youth event slogan chosen by four young Emiratis says it all.
"Our society is full of talent, and our aim is not to only recognise that talent, but to showcase it as an example to the rest of our youth," Hamda Al Bgaishi, a 20-year-old Zayed University communications student, said.

Her peers Hamda Al Nuaimi, Hamda Al Falasi and Maitha Hamdan — all 20-year-old students of the same major in university — are a team of Emirati girls who will be bringing TEDx Youth to Dubai for the first time on January 28.

TEDx Youth comes under an international initiative, TEDx, in which members who stand out in their communities, are chosen to speak about interesting or innovative ideas to motivate audiences.

"We met at TEDx Ajman, where we were volunteering, and although we were impressed by the speakers, we couldn't help but notice the absence of Emiratis of our age group," Hamda Al Falasi said.

That simple observation turned into a discussion that ended up with the girls deciding to apply for a TEDx Youth license from the official website.

"They asked for a few details about our plans, the date, place, speakers and expected audience. After a few weeks of email exchanges, we got the licence," Hamda Al Bgaishi said.
After that, there was hard work for 10 constant months to tick the items off a long list. First, the girls had to get sponsors to support them with website development, branding, items like posters, invitations, giveaways, chairs, tables and other event requirements.

The event, which will be held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was met by immediate support from the community. 1971Team, Young Eager Steps, ThinkupGCC, Xpoze, The Rabbit Hole, The Open Majlis, and The book Shelter, which are all Emirati initiatives, have offered to actively support the girls, give advice, assist in the organisation of the event and provide volunteers.

Technical support
Additionally, Zayed University, Naqsh, F.I.O.R.E and Khalifa Fund have offered professional and technical support.
The next item on the list, which was equally important, was picking the speakers.
"We chose our speakers based on three criteria: age group, field, and ability to communicate ideas in an inspirational and clear manner," Hamda Al Bgaishi said.

"We started with a list of more than 50 speakers and narrowed it down to 16, from fields including technology, sports, fashion, community service, environment and entrepreneurship."
Hamda Al Falasi said: "More than 300 people signed up to attend while more than 100 signed up to volunteer. We couldn't have asked for a better reaction from the community."

When asked about the challenges that they have faced, all the girls agreed that the biggest challenge was striking a balance between managing their studies while simultaneously organising an event this big.
"With the support of our families and friends, we have made this come to life and in the end, it's all worth it," Hamda Al Falasi said.
"It certainly is worth it, and it's our time, and the role of each and every one of us to change any stereotypes," Hamda Al Bgaishi added.

Follow them on twitter @TEDxYouthjum


Saturday, January 14, 2012

Emirati women create book lovers' paradise














Their world comprises books and more books. "Our childhood memories were filled with books. We have always been book lovers." Shaikha Al Shamsi, a MBA graduate from Zayed University, told Gulf News. The same holds true for Mariam Al Khayat, a films studies graduate.
The passion for reading brought the two girls, who grew up in Al Ain, together. "In fifth grade, we started a book club. We were the only members, but still enjoyed it." Mariam said.
Last November, the passionate readers launched ‘The book shelter', a platform where book lovers across the UAE can donate and adopt used books.
"Both of us are book collectors, and we have constantly heard family and friends talk about their read and used books and how they'd want to put them to better use," Shaikha said.
That's how the website idea occurred to the two girls; an easy-to-use, electronic platform that would bring readers together to donate, share and provide new homes for books.
Any interested reader can simply log on to the website, choose a book from the list of books available, and request it for adoption. Likewise, they can log on, and offer their unwanted and unused books. In both cases, the book shelter team will deliver or pick up the books, free of charge.
It doesn't stop at the website though. The girls are aiming not only to provide a book-sharing platform but to spread the culture of reading across the UAE.
"Another initiative we run on the side is the reading nook; a cozy corner with a few side tables, couches and books, where people passing by can pick up books, and sit and read." Shaikha said.
The team launched the first reading nook in the Dubai Urban culture and Arts festival on December 10, which took place outdoors in Dubai, and they are now working on setting up permanent nooks in Sharjah.
The girls were more than happy to see that both the initiatives were well received in the community.
"We were happy to see the interest and support from readers of all ages and nationalities. A lot of people started using the website, donated books, adopted books and spread the word," Mariam said.
Follow them on twitter @TheBookShelter

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Community bazaar in Abu Dhabi


It all started with a complaint about a refrigerator.

"My marketing professor was complaining about how she needed a new fridge, but couldn't find a second-hand store that would buy her old one," 21-year-old Zayed University finance student Latifa Al Romaithi said.

She was talking to Gulf News about the inception of the community bazaar that will be held today at 4pm in Khalifa Park, Abu Dhabi.

It occurred to Latifa and two of her friends, Hind Al Nuaimi and Fatima Ali Bin Salim, to introduce to the community the concept of the ‘Moving Souq' — an Emirati version of a garage sale.

The first thing they did was head to the Community Service department at the Abu Dhabi Municipality to register their idea and complete the required paperwork to hold this event.

They then set up registration and started spreading the word through social media for anyone who would be interested in participating.

The girls were pleased by the reaction they received from the community; the message spread and in no time, they had 25 registered community members, who will be selling handmade accessories, used books, clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery and other items this evening.

"We decided we would be charging Dh200 per stall. A small amount of our profits will be used to cover our costs and the rest will go to charity," Latifa said.

"Putting this together wasn't easy at all, especially that we had to run around for paperwork, while keeping up with studies and our other activities, but with support from our parents and friends, it's finally happening."

Follow them on twitter: @MovingSouq

Smart cookie hopes to open store in Abu Dhabi

                                   

Frustration, boredom and unemployment resulted in a 23-year-old Emirati turning to baking for solace. Khulood Al Muhairi's answer to a life not going exactly her way was to create cookies.

"It was the end of 2009 and job hunting wasn't going too well," she said, recalling the difficult days.

That is when Khulood started baking up a storm in her kitchen. Two years later the cookies are in great demand in Abu Dhabi.

"I've always enjoyed cooking. I see it both as a passion and an art. I used to make pastas and salads in my free time, but baking was a new experience," she said.

"One summer day, I decided to make dessert for my family and friends. I started playing with peanut butter and cookie dough, and that's when it all began."

To her joy, everybody loved the cookies and asked her to bake some more.
She started experimenting with ingredients like chocolate chips, coffee, pistachio, coconut, cinnamon, ginger and almond. It resulted in Khulood creating five different original cookie flavours.

Then her older sister suggested she start a little home business. At first Khulood was hesitant.

"I wasn't sure at first, I thought it was a silly idea, and I was scared of failing, but with the insistence of my sister and close friends, I decided to give it a try," she said.
It was then, with the support of her family and friends that her brand, ‘K's cookies', was launched.

"With financial support from my mother in the beginning and help from my friends in the brand concept and design, I launched a Twitter page dedicated for cookie orders."
Word started to spread, and the orders started coming in. 

In no time, K's cookies had more than 200 followers on Twitter. She then started taking orders by phone and by e-mail, and later launched a website.

During that time, Khulood got hired for a full-time job in the media department of a company in Abu Dhabi. She was forced to divide time between her day job and K's cookies.

"I spend the day at work, come home and rest for an hour. I then start baking at 5pm and sometimes that goes on until after midnight, depending on the orders that I need to deliver," she said. "It's extremely tiring working all day, taking orders, arranging for deliveries and dealing with last-minute cancellations."

She said: "My cookies have a certain quality and standard, which my customers are used to. It's not easy finding the right ingredients for that while being cost-effective."
In a year's time and if all goes according to plan, Khulood is hoping to open a K's Cookies store in Abu Dhabi.

Her advice for every young person with an idea, hope or project in mind is: "Dream, dream and take action. Be courageous, be confident, take the opinions of the people around you and accept constructive criticism."
Follow her on twitter: @Kscookies
Story source 

Emiratis blaze their own trail to entrepreneurship



It all started while on a trip to India almost two years ago. Four young Emiratis were united by a common desire to make something for themselves — and the way they chose to do so was to become entrepreneurs.

Mohammad Kazim, 28, one of the four, said: "My friends and I were just sharing thoughts and all of a sudden the idea of establishing our own business came up."

Faisal Lutfi, 27, said: "Back then we weren't exactly sure what the business was going to be, but the initial idea grew when we returned home and started meeting regularly to explore it."

Slowly the idea of Allinque — a personal assistance service based in Dubai — evolved.
"A few discussions and brainstorming sessions later, we came up with an innovative idea that would tackle an issue that many young professionals struggle with daily — better use and management of time," Ahmad Al Ashram, 28, said.

"As soon as we completed the financial model, we moved to the pilot stage, where we tried out the service on 80 of the people we know to test the process," Faisal said.

In January the project went live. Allinque, which targets young working professionals, provides its members with assistance in their daily tasks that they either do not have the time to do, or need to delegate.

Whether the task is to make a restaurant reservation, pick up laundry, buy groceries, send birthday balloons or finish bank paperwork, if it's legal and doable, the Allinque personal assistance service will take care of it.

The company offers three types of yearly contracts. A gold membership provides 40 hours of service per month, a silver membership gets 20 hours and bronze allows 10 hours. Information about the company can be found on its website www.Allinque.com.

One of the team's biggest financial investments was in the sophisticated software. As soon as a member rings the call centre, the system automatically links the number to their file, which pops up for the personal assistant, allowing him or her to be assisted in an efficient manner. The system also tracks the number of hours spent on each task.

When a member makes a request, he or she is sent an order confirmation via a phone text message within minutes. They are then regularly updated on the status of the request until it is completed.

All staff are signed into a binding client confidentiality agreement to protect the people who use the service. Since its launch, Allinque has attracted a diverse group of clients.
"We have Emirati, American, Lebanese, Indian, British and Saudi customers," Faisal said.

"We once received a request from a customer to wrap a car which he was giving to his wife as a gift, and we did it," Ahmad said. "Another request was to transfer a sick cat from Abu Dhabi to Dubai for surgery. We also managed to find a way to do that."
Certain services — especially hotel, ticket and travel reservations — are not limited to the UAE. An Allinque personal assistant can plan the logistics for an international trip and make all the bookings and reservations required by the customer.

So what would be the best advice that the group would like to give other entrepreneurs? "Do not venture into a new business without preparation and planning but also don't wait for years to execute," Khalid Gobash, 29, said.

"There is no perfect business book, plan or strategy that guarantees your success."

Follow them on twitter: @AllinquePA
Story source

Exhibition focuses on simple men

                                         
"I think men have a beautiful simplicity to them," said Amnah Raisi, the 20-year-old student of economics from the American University of Sharjah.

She was talking about her "Men of The UAE" photography exhibition, which was held at the Dubai Community Theatre and Art Centre at the Mall of the Emirates. The exhibition ended yesterday.

She explained that the aim of the exhibition featuring portraits of 19 Emirati men from different fields of work, was to shed light on role models and for the younger generation of Emirati to see and break stereotypes. It was also meant to give them exposure, which might not be provided often by the local media.

The photographs showed a diverse group of men, from different generations, each striving for the best in their own fields, whether it was in the role of the father, the modern fisherman or the globalised youth.

"This all started as an idea two years ago, and back then I thought it was going to be one of my many ideas which I never implemented. But as time passed by, it started becoming more real," Amnah said.

"I decided to use an old passion which was writing, and a new passion, photography, to bring this project to life."

Through simple captions, the candid portraits, which were taken in natural environments and barely edited, aim at conveying "real" moments from the men's lives.

"I won't label myself as a photographer. All what I tried to do through the photos was to capture a moment that moved me, and which I tried to use to get a message across to the viewer."

As simple as the concept might seem, the hard work put in it was remarkable. "I had an hour and a half long photography session with each of these men and took almost 500 photos per session, in order to get the perfect shot. I worked daily for two months to complete it."

When asked about what the choice of the specific men for her project was based on, Amnah said that they were individuals from her community whom she admired, and knew how much they had achieved.

All of this would never have been possible without her family and friends, Amnah added. "This project made me realise that you have to push your family to the limit to actually see how supportive they are."

She was also given a lot of guidance from a discussion group called Promise of a Generation (POAG), which was established in 2009 and serves as a platform that brings together young people.

Follow her on twitter @Amoon_JR


Website to nurture and showcase young talent across the GCC


The need to connect with his community drove 23-year-old Emirati Saleh Al Braik to create the website Thinkup.ae that allows young talent from across the GCC to showcase their efforts.

The initiative was launched with a teaser campaign through Twitter, followed by the opening of the site on September 4, this year. So far, there are 85 registered members who have made a commitment to contribute to the website, while there are 2,400 Twitter followers and 700 Facebook fans of the initiative.

"I came back to the UAE and was proud to see to how rapidly it had developed while I was away. At the same time, I felt so disconnected from my community," Al Braik said. He had just returned to Dubai after completing his undergraduate studies in finance at the University of Essex in the UK.

"I couldn't stop wondering about where the talented people of my generation were, and how could I meet them, listen to their thoughts and find out what they were interested in."

It was 2009, a boom time for social networking in the region, especially Twitter — a forum that Al Braik found gave him a sense of belonging, as soon as he joined.

He said: "I was suddenly surrounded by this group of young men and women from backgrounds just like mine, were raised just like me, had similar interests, shared the same jokes and were just as passionate as I was. They inspired me.

"I felt connected to those individuals, who were mostly between the ages of 13 and 28. I started Tweeting to inspire them, to make them laugh, to share with them my thoughts and ideas, and they were extremely positive and responsive. By April 2009, I had more than 16,000 followers from all over the Gulf."

Through his Twitter interactions, Al Braik started to spot hidden talent. He noticed that many of his online friends were photographers, artists, designers, writers and videographers.

He also noticed that only a few, if any, of those talented friends were confident enough to showcase their work to the community and get the recognition they deserved.
He said: "In my opinion, we as Khaleejis tend to be shy and humble about what we are good at, and I strongly felt that with my ‘virtual' friends."

That urged Al Braik to look at creating a social platform, a place where all his friends could gather and bring their ideas, express themselves and share their work.

Since he was targeting a huge group of individuals from all over the GCC and he was working full time in a finance job, Al Braik knew from the beginning that establishing a physical hub was almost impossible. It was then the idea occurred to him — a website that could serve as a virtual social hub.

He started by sharing his idea with a small group, mostly his cousins and very close friends from different countries in the Gulf. When it was enthusiastically welcomed, he decided to put it into action. It was the beginning of ThinkupGCC, the banner under which Thinkup.ae was launched. He then started forming teams across the GCC, and chose a main contact person in every country, who represented and promoted the initiative and searched for talent in his or her community.

"Putting this huge thing together has been a challenge. I was depending on a huge group of people that I had never met. Their work and contributions were going to make this virtual hub go live. Also, there was the challenge of this being a non-profit project. I had no sponsors at all, and the whole website was built and designed by volunteers."

The site has eight sections or ‘pillars'. The first pillar, ThinkBig, features people who excel in their fields, and would inspire the youth.

Then there is ThinkHelp, which focuses on individuals who do things for the goodwill of the community.

The third pillar, ThinkSmart, aims at shedding light on school and university student projects, which need volunteers or sponsorship.

Then there is WeThink, a space where writers and columnists can express their opinions and thoughts about social issues that concern them, through articles they post and which are updated regularly.

Thinkskills, the most interactive section of the website, is where the talent is showcased. Videos are posted, wherein artists and designers share their work and talk about it, and sport lovers display their passion and talent on the field.

The sixth pillar, ThinkBrave, features the stories of bravery by young GCC nationals.
For the philanthropists who organise charity and community development events, there's ThinkEvent, where they can raise awareness and the social support that they need. The last pillar, IThink, is the fun section, where ThinkUpGCC team share their behind the scenes photos and videos.

"The launch was a success, and I hope that it will only get better. It's time for my GCC national brothers and sisters to speak up and show the world how capable, smart and talented they are." Al Braik concluded.
Follow them on twitter:@ThinkupGCC

Women in demanding professional careers find spare time for charity.



Excited shrieks and loud cheers filled the air as enthusiastic fans watched the last minutes of a competitive football game.

But, it wasn't your typical match. It was being played by Emirati girls in a stadium full of girls in their 20s, as part of a fund-raising tournament, at a private venue in Abu Dhabi, a few weeks' ago.

Eleven Emirati girls combined their love of sport with the desire to help and created ‘3onkum', which translates into ‘your kind support'. It is a young initiative launched about two months ago. The charity football tournament in Abu Dhabi was the first event organised by them.

They managed to raise Dh270,000, which will be later donated to Emirati families in need around the UAE, through the Red Crescent.

The group of young women based in the capital include a doctor, a lawyer, a public relations officer, an IT specialist and an event manager, all of whom have demanding day jobs. They spend their evenings managing 3onkum.

Azza Al Ka'abi, a 23-year-old marketing officer and one of the group members, explained: "After organising football tournaments [for Emirati women] for five years in a row and seeing the surprisingly high demand from more than 20 teams who have expressed their interest in participating each year, we decided to use this event and others to contribute something to society." They came up with the idea and spread the word among Emirati women through word of mouth, Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry.

Shaikha Al Ka'abi, an IT specialist and 28-year-old leader of the group, said: "We were amazed by the positive response that we got as soon as we announced the idea. A huge number of teams who wanted to play and girls who volunteered to help manage the event got in touch with us."

To their surprise, they were also contacted by girls who ran home businesses and offered to set up vendor stands on the event day, sell their goods, services and donate the profits to the cause.

They were approached by young Emirati doctors, who offered to attend and run basic eye, blood pressure and diabetes tests for guests and also contribute their profits to charity.

Afra Al Marar, a 24-year-old PR officer and member of 3onkum, said: "Girls in the community were extremely proactive."

No success comes without hard work though. Before the tournament, for two months, the girls met three evenings a week and stayed up late planning, organising and making decisions. "We kept things organised by dividing tasks, and creating a database for all the players, volunteers, business owners and doctors," Shaikha Al Ka'abi said.

The success of the tournament has not only been a relief after the time and effort the girls have put in it but has also given them a strong push to do more.

In the near future, they have plans for different sporting tournaments, open days for girls with family businesses, bake sales, bazaars and other charity events, which girls with varying talents and interests could get a chance to be part of and support.
3onkum are soon to launch their website.

"There is no limit to what you can do and what you can give. When you have an idea, go out there and try it. You have nothing to lose, Shaikha added.

3onkum members
            Fatima Al Kaabi
            Shaikha Al Kaabi
            Azza Al Kaabi
            Hamda Al Hamli
            Mediya Al Muhairbi
            Hamda Al Qubaisi
            Fatima Al Qubaisi
            Afra Al Marar
            Fatima Al Muhairi
            Fatima Al Qubaisi
            Nadia Al Shaikh
            


Follow them on twitter: @3ownkum

Click away a child's cancer blues


With her short black hair, cute smile and big brown eyes, eight-year-old Fay looks like any average little girl who does not have a worry in the world.But you would be surprised at just how far from typical she really is.

Fay is one of a group of children in the UAE who have cancer. In fact over 100 children contract this deadly disease every year in the UAE.

According to Dr Fareed Khalifa, head of the Oncology Department at Dubai Hospital, since 2008, in Dubai alone, at least 15 UAE nationals and 18 expatriate children have been diagnosed with cancer each year. The most common forms of cancer among children, he says, are leukaemia, followed by lymphoma (affecting the lymphatic system), cancer of the eye, the kidneys and the brain.

A website called ‘Lamsat Amal' (www.lamsatamal.webs.com), which means ‘Touch of Hope', offers a way of giving money specifically to help these children.

The site was launched by a group of UAE national girls from Al Ain in September 2009, including Lamya Al Darmaki, Mahra Mohammad, Ebtisam Al Suraidy, Latifa Al Daheri, Sanna Al Salami, Mona Al Eissaei and Aisha Al Darmakihas, and has already attracted more than 3,000 visitors.

ts aim is to make life more bearable for the children by attempting to make their wishes come true. It lists the names, photos and wishes of children from all over the UAE battling the disease.

So far 24 children have had their wishes come true. When asked about the inspiration for the idea, 23-year-old Lamya told Gulf News: "I believe that with the guidance of religion and culture, empathy is one of the greatest values inherited from previous generations."

Starting up and managing the site has been far from easy for the girls and they faced a number of challenges along the way.

"I must admit that the challenges we faced, such as starting off with no budget and having our idea rejected by many, made us doubt our ability to make it happen," says 23-year-old Mahrah Ahmad. "However, we reminded each other that all we needed was patience and a new plan."

Latifa Al Daheri, 23, explains that the girls divide the work equally.

"Some of us are in charge of contacting the parents, some are in charge of managing the website and others are in charge of contacting the media and other companies," she says.

"Touch of Hope is a part-time job for the girls in our group. We are either in full time employment or we're housewives."

Using the website is easy. Simply flick through the photo album, pick a child to whom you want to grant a wish and with a simple click you can make a difference to their lives and put a smile on their tired little faces.

The children's demands are small. Often all they dream of is having books, toys or electronic games.

"Most of the children whose wishes we have collected are patients at Tawam hospital [Al Ain]. The officials at the hospital have been very cooperative and we're hoping to expand the initiative to other hospitals in the UAE," said Mahra Mohammad.
Their perseverance seems to be paying off.

"We receive many supportive emails from people encouraging us to give more. And to our pleasant surprise we even received an email from a woman in New York telling us she was impressed by our efforts," said Latifa Al Daheri.

Those donating to the website have the option of delivering the gift themselves, to be able to see the difference they're making to the children.

Lamya said: "The majority of the donors have been able to meet the children and stay in touch with them and their families. It's amazing how a small gift makes you part of a new family."

The mother of two-year-old Theresa, whose wish was to have learning toys for her child was granted, said: "We [parents] are full of heartfelt gratitude to Touch of Hope for giving happiness to our daughter and other children who are sick and for cheering them up by fulfilling their little dreams, despite the hard conditions under which they live."

Follow them on twitter: @Touch_Of_Hope