The inaugural Itijah
Venture, the latest in our Ventures series, was run in Abu
Dhabi in April in partnership with the
Emirates Foundation. An intense and stimulating event, it drew
together 40 participants from 7 cities - Abu Dhabi, Alexandria,
Amman, Benghazi, Budapest, Istanbul and Manchester - to explore the
challenge: "What would it take to multiply the number of young
people who create new businesses using ICT and social media?"
Throughout the four days the participants heard from speakers
who ranged from young entrepreneurs starting out in business to
established entrepreneurs sharing their learning on social media,
enterprise and scale. We also had three 15-year old students
joining us to give the group a youth perspective. Visits out in Abu
Dhabi were to a range of organisations working in diverse areas of
youth engagement, youth unemployment, entrepreneurship, ICT and
social media.
The group came up with six fascinating models for solving the
challenge. The next steps will be for the participants to refine,
develop and then present their ideas to policy makers and leaders
in the different cities.
Common Purpose
Ventures connect future leaders, across the world, to tackle
challenges which are common and compelling, and big (enough to be
worth the effort) and small (enough to be grasped).
Some of the comments from participants:
"Itijah has not just met my expectations, it has gone way beyond
them".
"An eye opener, a life changing experience, a push to start my own
life journey, a chance to break your stereotypes".
"Itijah is an exceptional experience towards better future and
youth in both Europe and the Arab World"
"You must attend this event"
If you'd like to know more about the Itijah Venture or are interested in getting
involved please contact Itijah@commonpurpose.org
or visit the
website.