Youth-oriented activities honour memory of Soraya Salti

The Soraya Salti Youth for Youth Series was launched on Wednesday with the support of Waleed Al Banawi, the founder and chairman at JISR Venture Partners

November 10, 2016

Read the full article at The Jordan Times here

AMMAN — There is no better way to honour the memory of the late Soraya Salti than initiate inspirational, informative and thought provoking activities that engage young people.

The legacy of Salti, the former president and CEO for the Middle East and North Africa at INJAZ Al Arab, is being recognised by the Columbia Global Centres – Amman, a hub for Columbia University research and educational initiatives in the Middle East and one in a network of eight global centres around the world.

The Soraya Salti Youth for Youth Series was launched on Wednesday with the support of Waleed Al Banawi, the founder and chairman at JISR Venture Partners.

The series aims to create a space for debating, reflecting and understanding the challenges and opportunities faced by youths as well as for proposing immediate applications to address them.

Starting with a distinguished speaker who was affected by Salti’s work in the area of youth development and entrepreneurship, Najla Al Midfa, the general manager of Sheraa, an Emirati government entity that seeks to inspire the next generations of entrepreneurs, presented a briefing on her journey in youth empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Titled “Unleashing the Next Generation of Change Makers”, the lecture focused on the importance of providing young people with the necessary tools to innovate and think out of the box instead of seeking jobs in the public sector.

Midfa is also the founder of Khayarat (choices), a platform that enables young Emiratis to make informed career choices.

“I really wished I had someone like Soraya in my life when I first graduated and started looking for a job — someone who could connect me to mentors, someone who could guide me and provide me with the skills to apply for jobs. Basically someone who could show me where opportunities were,” she said.

On the other hand, Midfa underlined the importance of failure as part of success, encouraging youngsters not to give up and to use failure as a tool to work harder to reach their goals.