Zain Group launches the Annual Youth Forum for its Future University Network members

Zain group, the leading mobile operator in the Middle East and Africa, launched today the Annual Youth Forum for its Future University Network members. The forum, launched for the first time, hosted around 300 members from Future University Network Companies currently operating in seven countries throughout the Middle East and Africa. 

The forum, to be launched on a yearly basis, aims to strengthen ties between members of all companies in the Middle East and Africa by facilitating the exchange of ideas and expertise as well as the development of the participants’ skills in this area. Furthermore, participants will build on the achievements that have been accomplished and set future plans and the necessary steps to be taken with the framework of goals which the Zain Group seeks to accomplish.

Zain Group CEO Dr. Saad Al Barrak said during the event which was held at the Dead Sea Marriott Hotel: “Jordan has been chosen the country to host the Group’s first Annual Youth Forum because Zain Jordan was the first to launch the Future University Network initiative in 2005. After proving to be a great success, the Zain Group adopted the idea and duplicated it in seven other countries in which the company operates, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda”.

Alongside their academic development, Al Barrak stressed on the importance of developing the youth’s social and intellectual capacities. "The Future University Network Company reflects Zain's strategy that focuses on the youth. It also reflects the company’s commitment towards its social responsibility policy and its role in training the youth and preparing them for the job market". Al Barrak who added that the forum will help transform participating students from job seekers to job creators through developing their skills, engaging them professionally from an early age with many Future University Network Company graduates currently employed at the various Zain operations.

Zain Jordan’s CEO Dr. Abdel Malik Al Jaber welcomed participants and said: “We are very glad to see that our project have grown and developed in such a short period of time. We are also proud to see that the initiatives we launch at Zain Jordan are proving to be a distinguished to follow”.

Al Jaber noted that the company will continue to offer its full support to members of the Future University Network by providing them with training opportunities and the necessary practical expertise to help build their personalities and prepare them for the job market. “Over the years, the Future University Network welcomed over 1000 students from the various local universities to help enhance their personal and professional set of skills needed for today's job market. Students are given the opportunity to train in sales, marketing, customer service, market research, event management, public relations as well as being involved in social and voluntary work” Al Jaber said.

Al Jaber added: “launching this initiative by Zain Jordan a few years ago was based on a vision adopted by the company which aims to build a generation of young leaders from the different local universities who provide an added value to the mother company as well as to their local communities”.

Jordan is a role model in terms of focusing on building human the local resources, as it is considered to be the main contributor to social development. “We always refer to HM the Late King Hussein bin Talal’s words; “The human being is the most precious resource that we possess” and adhere to HM King Abdulla’s vision that is based on the belief that the real and sustainable economic development starts from the basis of unleashing the potential of the youth and developing it and placing them in the right direction” Al Jaber said.

The Future University Network, launched as an independent company and owned by Zain Jordan, was established in 2005 as a network for college students, under the name F.U.N. As a result of its successes, Zain turned the network into a full-fledged company run by around 200 students from 16 different Jordanian universities with various disciplines, who also own shares in it. Moreover, the company aims to create similar entities within the universities’ headquarters in the various governorates around Jordan, which will contribute to the engaging a larger number of university students in this initiative.

The Zain Group had announced in 2007 it adoption of Zain Jordan’s initiative to establish a University Network which the company will begin to expand amongst its operating companies found in 23 countries. Upon graduating, students leave the company upon graduating to make place for new ones.

December 13,2009