Versatile genius

FOR Adwa Al-Dakheel, talent and innovation are unique qualities that see no borders. The young Saudi woman is well known as a writer, poet, musician, entrepreneur, and moreover a squash champion.

June 12, 2014
Versatile genius
Versatile genius

 


Saudi Gazette report


 


FOR Adwa Al-Dakheel, talent and innovation are unique qualities that see no borders. The young Saudi woman is well known as a writer, poet, musician, entrepreneur, and moreover a squash champion. A scholarship student at the University of Harvard in the United States, Al-Dakheel authored her first book at the age of 16.



Apart from becoming a successful businesswoman and prolific writer, her other ambition is to establish a number of non-profit organizations aimed at combating poverty and hunger in the Middle East, according to a report in Al-Madinah daily. Most often, stories and pictures of Al-Dakheel appear prominently in newspapers, magazines as well as on social networking sites.



Parents and teachers identified her genius in various fields since the age of eight. Al-Dakheel’s family stood by her like a stellar pillar to develop her extraordinary talent and skills. Al-Dakheel started writing poems and playing guitar at the age of 8. She is now doing specialization in three subjects at the University of Harvard. Even in the midst of studies, she finds time to quench her thirst for music and writing. She released her first music album early last year and the second is now ready to launch.



Al-Dakheel is the author of the book titled “Proven Billionaire Formula.” She read about 300 books on management and psychology before writing the 130-page book. “While writing the book,” she said, “my thrust was to bring an idea to readers that most of the things that they think complicated and difficult are really simpler and easier.” Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz Khoja launched her book and received her and her father at his residence in Jeddah. She thanked Khoja for launching the book and appreciating her work.



“It was a big honor for me to have such a great personality to agree to launch my book and encourage me to score more successes and scale greater heights in life.”



Al-Dakheel won first prize in the poetry competition at the World Poetry Forum in Washington. About 1,000 poets participated in the event. She was once chosen as a project leader at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). “At the university’s opening ceremony, I had to lead a group of employees from Saudi Aramco and was named as the head of a project. It was a wonderful experience. It gave me an exciting experience to prove my talent and capabilities. I was able to lead a team whose members aged above 25 while I was 16 at the time,” she said.



Al-Dakheel won an honorary grade at Boston University for three consecutive years. “I won an honorary grade at the university for securing full grades in most of the subjects. It was a moment of pride to be a student from the Gulf and win such a coveted honor, outshining American students.”



Despite her young age, Al-Dakheel has proved herself to be an enterprising entrepreneur by setting up and owning a trading firm called ‘Focust’, based on money transactions. She was aged 14 at the time. The company then turned to trading stocks and implementing contracts.



At the age of 20, Al-Dakheel was appointed brand ambassador of “Kapitall” company in Boston. The New York-based company is dealing with developing programs to support investment and trading in stocks and other means of investment. She is fully confident that the fast growing company would become one of the leading investment firms in US within the coming years. “As the brand ambassador, my job is mainly to offer consultancy services and work out novel programs.”



Al-Dakheel is striving to maintain a balance between studies and business on one side and artistic works on the other. “I think studies and businesses complement each other and if I have to choose one of these two, I will choose business as it entails more competition.”



Referring to her musical work, Al-Dakheel said: “My first album got a tremendous response in the Middle East. It was exciting because my experiment of composing music first and then writing lyrics was successful.” She hopes that her second album will also be a big hit.



Al-Dakheel was the Kingdom’s squash champion for 2008 and 2009. Speaking about her achievements in sports, she said: “I was interested in sports and games since childhood. But my real passion was in playing squash. Later, I used to spend an average six hours in a week playing,” she said adding that she participated in several matches and became the Kingdom’s squash champion for two years. She stopped playing the game after sustaining a knee injury.


June 12, 2014
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