Tuesday 07 / May / 2024
Muscat: In partnership with bp Oman, Youth Sada held a virtual final ceremony marking the conclusion of the second phase and specialised edition of the Al Dhahirah Leadership Forum.
The forum aims at educating the community about relevant applications, opportunities and challenges associated with the fourth industrial revolution. It also encourages the exchange of knowledge, ideas and skills that contribute to the development of innovative solutions with the support of specialists in the field. The ceremony was held under the patronage of Mohammed Al Rasbi, OTF “Techween” Programme Manager, on Tuesday September 1.
Shamsa Al-Rawahiya, bp Oman Social Investment Manager, commented, “The Al Dhahirah Leadership Forum is an annual youth forum which is carried out as part of bp Oman’s social investment programme. It aims at gathering young Omanis in a practical and innovative environment to empower them and develop their skills in light of the rapid digital changes associated with the fourth industrial revolution. The programme encourages its participants to work on innovative project ideas that can positively serve our community and society.”
Qais Al Maqrashi, Chief Executive Officer at Youth Sada, commented: “The second edition of the Ad Dhahirah Leadership Forum is in alignment with the Sultanate’s directions towards Oman’s 2040 vision to focus on modern technology and the support of technical projects from young Omani generations to fulfil the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Based on that, the first and the second phases of the forum has focused on providing the participants with technical knowledge and allowing them to network with experts, specialists and academics related to the targeted fields. In addition, the competition added a rivalry spirit between the competitors to further develop their ideas and transform them from simple ideas into actual projects that can be applied.”
The specialised programme was the second of three phases of the AdDhahirah Leadership Forum. The first phase of the programme - known as the generalised programme–focused on workshops executed by specialists on topics related to the fourth industrial revolution. The specialized programme, however, focused on supporting those with ideas on the real-world application of fourth industrial revolution projects. Three sessions were delivered via virtual interactive courses presented by experts within the field including ‘Oman’s readiness to Fourth Industrial Revolution’, followed by a session on the contribution of small companies in the field to the national economy, and concluded by youth’s experiences with the applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The forum also incorporated a competition between 30 teams for the best three business projects related to the applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that can be used in the community, whereby the artificial intelligence ‘Robo-Health’projectwon first place. The nanotechnology-related project ‘Biological Tube’ achieved second place and the third place was given to the virtual and augmented reality project ‘Navigation Eye’. The competition rewards comprised of prize money sponsored from BP Oman to further encourage participants to strive for winning ideas.
During the final ceremony, Ahmed Al Jassassi, the project leader of the specialised Al Dhahirah Leadership Forum programme, stated that: “Encouraging young people to research, innovate and make decisions is necessary for light of the new shift towards new manufacturing methods and products and rapidly advancing technologies. Through this forum, we sought to build a capable youthful community that can apply technologies in our current society that is aligned with the world’s advancements. The forum highlights ideas that will contribute to discovering innovative solutions under the guidance of specialised experts. An additional benefit of the forum is that it allows participating civil societies and institutions to be up to par with the latest applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Youth Sada was established in 2013, and it is an Omani foundation specialised in organising conferences and seminars.
Youth Sada works on bringing out the youth’s talents and skills and guiding them so that they can serve and contribute to their society and nation. This is done via various activities, workshops and skill courses that work to develop the youth in all aspects including scientifically, culturally, and intellectually by cooperating with government and private institutions.
In addition, Youth Sada Centre acts like a hub, that provides creative joint working space, and works on qualifying distinguished individuals and their ambitions on a national level. This is achieved via careful selection criteria and standards, which contributes to supporting social work in our community and offers additional value to their projects and ideas submitted.
BP is the operator of Khazzan, the Middle East’s largest unconventional gas field which produces a significant amount of Oman’s gas
The second part of Khazzan, Ghazeer, is due to start-up in late 2020
In 2019, we spent over $1 billion with Omani registered companies
Over 79 per cent of BP Oman employees are Omanis, including half of our leadership team. We aim to reach 90 per cent Omanisation by 2025.
Our social investment programme aims to support the development of Omani people, economic diversification and job creation.
Launched in 2014, over 55,000 people and more than 150 SMEs are estimated to have benefitted directly so far from the more than 70 initiatives that have taken place.
