Bahraini.TV

WEF chance for Bahraini student

by mahmood on 14/01/10 at 7:58 am

A 21-year-old Bahraini could soon become the first student from the country to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

But Tariq Al Olaimyy, who studied at St Christopher’s School until 2006, must garner enough votes by tomorrow to be able to make the trip.

The prize will be the opportunity to speak at a panel dedicated to his cause, ‘Social Entrepreneurship in the Arab Gulf’, in Davos on January 30.

“I am really hoping I will be able to make it and am depending on all people in Bahrain,” he told the GDN.

The graduate of the Cass Business School – City University, London, has been selected as one of five finalists worldwide in the 2010 YouTube Davos Debates Contest.

The contest required participants to submit a video to YouTube demonstrating their knowledge and commitment to a recognised public cause or concern, as well as their ability to engage and debate with attendees at the 2010 WEF.

Tariq’s three-minute video (http://www.youtube.com/davos) spoke of the need for education on and support for, social entrepreneurship, in order to tackle the most pressing social issues facing the region.

The shortlisted videos were evaluated by an independent jury composed of Nobel Peace Prize winner and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, writer Paulo Coelho and Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington.

Tariq is co-founder of Al Tamasuk (meaning ‘cohesion’ in Arabic), a non-profit social enterprise which aims to spread awareness and educate people on diabetes and its link to blindness.

He also has a business development role with Jumpstart-up, which provides seed level support and funding for high impact, financially sustainable and replicable entrepreneurial ventures.

Tariq, a grandson of Hasan Al Jishi, the speaker of Bahrain’s first parliament in 1973, said he entered the Davos competition to put the spotlight on a topic in the Gulf that has not yet received the attention it deserves.

“It was also an excellent opportunity to share my views on social entrepreneurship with individuals such as Muhammad Yunus, who is a pioneer in the field,” he said.

“The fact that the judging panel as a whole have tremendous knowledge on the topic and voted me through to the shortlist is incredible validation.

“Since 2000, the World Economic Forum has been promoting the powerful models developed by the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. They participate in forum initiatives and conversations shaping the future agendas of industries.

“Unfortunately, those from the Gulf are rarely involved in these discussions – yet countries in the region have the potential to be a great enabler for social innovation in the region and those around the world.

“I would like to shed light on the opportunity that exists in the region for social entrepreneurs and to hopefully put social entrepreneurship on the list of priorities of governments in the region.”

He said social enterprise could help address the Middle East’s challenges, but it was certainly not a unique solution to the region.

“Social entrepreneurship can address some of the toughest challenges facing humanity, often to do with basic human needs such as food, health, education and energy,” said Tariq.

He founded Al Tamasuk in November last year along with three others – Shereen Abdulla, Imane Al Alaiwat and Hisham Shehabi – all fresh university graduates.

They were helped by Zain Bahrain, which provided the seed funding after they were among of the winners of the Zain Dreams competition.

“We are currently taking part in a six-month entrepreneurship incubator programme, provided by a company called ‘Potential’, which is assisting us in the start-up phase,” said Tariq.

Awareness

He said Al Tamasuk was a social enterprise dedicated to raising awareness of the consequences of suffering from diabetes, with specific focus on the difficulties in coping with life after going blind as a result of diabetic retinopathy.

“We will be achieving this through interactive workshops that will be run by the blind,” said Tariq. “The revenue we generate through corporate workshops will be re-invested into providing free workshops for schools and low-income families. “We are following the World Diabetes Day theme for 2009-2013, which is ‘diabetes education and prevention’.” To vote for Tariq, people are requested to go to www.youtube.com/davos. Supporters can also join the Facebook group ‘Please send Tariq to the World Economic Forum!‘ and encourage their friends to vote for Tariq.