HOW BUSINESS CAN HELP COMBAT THE MIDDLE EAST YOUTH CRISIS

Over the next 20 years, 80 million jobs will be needed for the unemployed across the Middle East and North Africa.

For too long governments have been seen as the only solution to this crisis. But as a new report from IBLF shows, businesses across the Middle East are also starting to develop initiatives that can help to create new employment and enterprise opportunities for young people.

Business and Youth in the Arab World identifies 18 examples where businesses are making a difference - and urges other companies to work together to spark more action.

"The report aims to dispel the myth that job creation is simply the responsibility of governments," says Imelda Dunlop, the author of the report. "These examples show that businesses can play a role in providing training, supporting entrepreneurs and creating jobs that can reduce the spectre of mass youth unemployment in the Middle East."

In an article written to coincide with the launch on IBLF’s new report, Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, President of ALJ Group Saudi Arabia and Chairman of IBLF for the Middle East and Robert Davies, CEO of IBLF, say that the challenge is to scale up the good practices and inspire many more business leaders to collaborate.

“We need to work together, in partnership with other businesses, with government, and with the voluntary sector,” they say. “Finding eighty million jobs is a daunting challenge - it requires us all to pool our resources to help. But what greater resource does the business sector have than its spirit of enterprise, adaptability and willingness to learn from models which have been shown to work?”
Read the full editorial

Example initiatives profiled in the report

Jordan Education Initiative
The JEI is a global-local public-partnership partnership that aims to improve education in Jordan through effective use of ICT, while at the same time building local ICT industry capacity and creating a model of reform for other countries.
It is supported by companies such as Cisco, Dell and Microsoft.
More at www.jei.org.jo

The Centennial Fund
The Centennial Fund mobilises the business community in Saudi Arabia to help young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds set up their own small businesses and micro-enterprises.
It is part of the network of Youth Business International, an IBLF programme.
More at www.tcf.org.sa (Arabic) or at www.youth-business.org (English)

Business and Youth in the Arab World was produced in cooperation with the Young Arab Leaders, Emirates Environmental Group, Young Entrepreneurs Association, the United Nations Development Programme and supported by ALJ, Shell, Aramex, Dubal, Emirates Bank and Orascom.