Jeddah Economic Forum 2011 witnessed the launch of Effat Catalyst, a project that has bolstered youth entrepreneurship with technology Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, delivered the inaugural speech at the Jeddah Economic Forum 2011 at Jeddah Hilton. The “Youth 4 Youth” session designed by Effat University initiated the concept that it all starts with a ‘click' as they introduced their ‘Effat Catalyst' project at the Jeddah Economic Forum (JEF) 2011, which had the theme “The 21st Century Transformation”. Effat Catalyst is an accessible, smart and resourceful website that functions as a platform for measuring and tracking all voluntary initiatives that come from innovative and young ambitious Saudi entrepreneurs, who are looking for mentorship, a support structure, networking, and practical linkages between themselves and the world of investors, organizations, and funding bodies, both government and civil organizations. Ghazi Binzagr, board member of the Binzagr Group of Companies, acted as the moderator at the presentation and pointed out that “the youth are part of the solution and part of the problem.” He said that the young innovators are bridging the generation gap with their beautiful steps. He invited the youth to become champions of change with the guidance provided by the one-of-a-kind Effat Catalyst. There was a commendable increase in the number of women contributors and volunteers at the 11th JEF as compared to the previous year and it included a large number of faculty members and students from Effat university and Dar Al-Hekma. The forum stretched over four, jam-packed days with an extensive itinerary: day one was for discussing ‘The Phases of Global Transition; the topic for day two was ‘Shaping the Kingdom's Future Today' (harnessing the potential of the Saudi economy); day three focused on building a stable and prosperous society. Effat Catalyst was born in 2010 out of Effat University's belief that, in the past few years, young community service initiatives not only have made a strong positive impact on the whole community, but also have given a different meaning to social corporate responsibility in the Kingdom. These young initiatives have brilliantly utilized social media like Facebook and Twitter via modern gadgets like iPhone and BlackBerry, “clicking” their way forward to serve others and to achieve their community-oriented goals. Effat has therefore undertaken the role of both host and contributor to the “Effat Catalyst” project to highlight future initiatives and support existing ones. It supports them with mentorship and networking and links them to investors and funding organizations. AlBaraa Taibah, Madiha Khayat, Maha Taher and Rayan A. Karkadan were amongst the young Saudi entrepreneurs who passionately shared their inspirational stories and ambitions of their future at the Jeddah Economic Forum. They summarized the benefits of the Effat Catalyst – Khayat, an entrepreneur, explained the role of women in stimulating the Islamic cause and the importance of projecting a more positive image of Islam as well as shedding light on the challenges and obstacles that her team faced on their way to success: “Facing the world is not easy,” she said. She added that a moderate application of Islamic principles in her business venture had produced extremely fruitful results and that “we are celebrating our failures as we share our success stories.” Maha said a large number of volunteers had joined her ‘Young Initiative Group' (YIG), although she initially faced hurdles as a result of narrow-mindedness and biases. “But YIG is now expanding into a think-tank too, with valuable support from family members and enterprising mentors. Our donors trust us,” she said. Maha studied from a university in Switzerland and traveled to many countries such as Tanzania, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana to learn about social development. Maha, who also holds a doctorate in NGO management, bravely declared that it's her ambition to become the future Minister of Social Affairs to rapturous applause. Karkadan, meanwhile, discussed the augmented social role of his community medicine scheme. Taibah described how the youth could advance by mastering time management: “Time is not elastic,” he said.
