Barclays extends enterprise skills programme to UAE students

In line with its ‘Shared Growth Ambition’ program and global commitment to cultivate employability and financial skills in the communities in which it operates, Barclays has partnered with INJAZ UAE (a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide), which is one of the world’s largest non-profit business education organizations. It reaches over 10 million students a year across 121 countries.

The collaboration focuses on delivering employability and entrepreneurship programmes to school and university students in the United Arab Emirates, specifically through ‘The Innovation Day Camp’. The camp utilises INJAZ UAE’s educators network, which delivers cutting-edge, experiential volunteer based programs in work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

Launched in 2014, the I-Camp engages UAE students through a series of training workshops, which allow them to create out of the box solutions for today’s business challenges. Mentors from both Barclays and INJAZ UAE will provide participants with the necessary skills for problem solving and critical thinking through real-life experiences. They will then be able to apply these newly-learned skills to their academic and professional lives. As part of the workshops, student teams will also compete against each other to develop creative solutions for business challenges, for an opportunity to job shadow one of INJAZ’s corporate partners.

Andrew Mortimer, Managing Director, Country Manager and COO of Barclays MENA, commented: “As part of Barclays’ Shared Growth Ambition, we want to focus on making decisions and doing business which provides our clients, customers, shareholders and the communities in the region with access to a prosperous future. We are delighted to have partnered up with INJAZ UAE for the fourth consecutive year. This collaboration provides us the opportunity to prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders, by training them on the required skills to succeed in today’s increasingly challenging business world.”

Sulaf Al Zu’bi, CEO of INJAZ UAE, added: “We’re really proud of this partnership, I personally witnessed the pilot and it’s amazing to see the growth of this program after many years. This started out as a simple business plan workshop, and now has become the launching pad for many educators and students wishing to benefit from business training programs, as well as many corporate mentors that want to share their business success with the next generation of business leaders. It’s a fun way to instil entrepreneurial thinking skills in youth.”

Since 2010, Barclays has supported INJAZ’s programs and initiatives by providing various training to students across the UAE. Barclays’ employees have also mentored a number of student teams under the ‘JA Company Program’, a 12-session training program including a competition to select the best student company of the year.