Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Kingdom has been putting intense effort in supporting its backbone, the youth, in different ways, such as education, training and working closely with them along the way to discover their potential, supporting them to become entrepreneurs and spread benefits not only across the Kingdom, but across the globe. As an extension of that effort, the sixth edition of the Youth Businessmen Forum was held last Nov. 13 under the patronage of Prince Faisal Bin Bandar.

The main goal of the forum is to enhance networking between all entrepreneurs so they are more exposed to professional business settings that can open doors for them. In parallel with the forum, there was a constructive workshop on how to practically start one’s own business including budget, workforce, logistics and more. It lasted for 4 hours and the number of attendees were huge. "We want to empower youth to become more professional in connecting with the world, increase income and enhance their marketing techniques. There is a very strong tendency among Saudi youth to become entrepreneurs and we give them directions through meetings, forums, and conferences," a representative from the Youth Businessmen Committee, Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, told Saudi Gazette.

"We founded a small business called "spirits of leadership" which is about linking companies, institutions and centers with employees who are willing to work from home as part timers, and freelancers through an online platform. It helps both sides in different ways such as: if an organization needs more employees or staff but do not have the enough space, they can choose this way of getting the job done, if an employee is having bad personal circumstances, this online platform will suit them," Sultan Alsaleh, a law student and the co-founder of "Spirits of Leadership" told Saudi Gazette.

"The organization must specify the duties with clear deadlines. That pours in the interest of them both. Our business is under the supervision of the Ministry of Labor. We do have two types of signing up: one is for the organization while the other is for the employee or the job seeker," he added.

Speaking of the challenges, he said he and his brother "struggled to convince organizations to try this concept; it is very new to the Kingdom. Now and less than a year, we have more than 10 organizations as clients, in which some of them had told us that they want to transfer some staff members into employees who work from home and asked us to link them to the transferred employees through a database. The most common jobs or duties can be done from a distance is the customer service, translation, and HR," he stressed.

Abdulaziz A.Al-Aboudi, Saudi Master Instructor at the Saudi Divers Team, said of their business: "We are a team of nearly 100 highly professional divers. We do our best to increase awareness about the beauty, joy and clearness of the mind somebody can feel after trying this experience."

Diving is considered the second most expensive sport in the world after golf. "The equipment of diving and the classes are very expensive. We have incredibly lowered our prices as diving trainers. The Kingdom has best diving places ever that is even mentioned in Guinness World Records for its amazing beauty such as: the Red Sea which has the biggest number of coral reefs in all its kinds and all types of ornamental fish. These are the diving attractions, we have them all. We offer diving classes in which the person can easily get a license from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and we also offer a diving experience for 30 minutes in which there is no learning involved. However, the person can discover the underwater world, play with the fish, take pictures in an appealing scene of coral reefs," he said.

"Usually, diving classes cost $8,000, however, we offer the same professional classes for only SR1,300. It is common that 30 minute diving experience cost SR1,500, however, we offer the same experience for SR200. we do all this to promote diving to become part of our lifestyle. It is an unforgettable experience," he added.

Speaking of the success they gained, he said:" In 2015, we trained 15 divers. In 2016, we trained 70 divers. And in 2017, we have trained 140 divers. The number is getting higher and higher. Sports safe adventure is very beneficial for health and mind. The last person I have trained is 75 years old. All age groups are being attracted recently to diving. That means we are achieving our goal."