Students encouraged to 'get to know themselves', their options for future employment

AMMAN — As the Global Entrepreneurship Week kicked off its activities in 150 countries worldwide, young Jordanians and university students on Tuesday met with entrepreneurs and businesspeople to find the areas they are interested in and develop their talents.

Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship, DART Entrepreneurship Society and the German-Jordanian University’s (GJU) Concrete Club organised the “Get to Know Yourself” workshop at Zain Innovation Campus to motivate students to choose their passions and take the lead on the path of their choice, organisers said.

The event is part of around 160 activities around the Kingdom in different governorates for young Jordanians.

Mohammad Bali, head of the Entrepreneurship Society at Princess Sumaya University for Technology – DART, said the event seeks to link students to entrepreneurs to encourage them to develop their skills and to prepare them for the workplace.

“We wanted to get young people to participate as mentors and speakers to motivate students and aspiring entrepreneurs to follow their passions,” he said.

Participants were divided into groups, depending on their interests and hobbies, Bali said, with speakers from different sectors discussing entrepreneurship with students.

The event included activities as part of the global goals of the week, with the target to achieve them in 2030, Bali added.

“Students will build the future and start their companies; it’s vital to talk to students about entrepreneurship… To brainstorm and to break the ice,” Bali told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the event.

Organiser Saja Badran from GJU’s Concrete Club, said entrepreneurship starts with one step, regardless of the age and knowledge levels.

“Entrepreneurship is very important, because there are many fresh graduates who work for companies without having the knowledge and they [companies] take them for granted. They don’t get their chance to grow,” Badran told The Jordan Times.

“We take these students and tell them about entrepreneurship and then organise activities to implement that concept, and if they have project ideas, we link them with companies to either fund their project, or give them the required experience.”

Mohammad Obeidat, innovation consultant at the Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship, said the workshop is a chance for students to start considering other options for their careers.

“I believe it’s important to connect students to entrepreneurs for them to start considering other options than being employed by the government or leaving the country — to start thinking of starting their businesses,” Obeidat said.

He added that there are many innovative students at universities who do not have enough knowledge about starting a business, adding that the solution would be to include more material on entrepreneurship in the curricula to get the students involved.

Hashemite University student Yara Qadi, who took part in the workshop, said that students' participation in such workshops will help “shape their talents” and direct them to their desired future paths.

“One of the main reasons for participating in such workshops is that it will give students more opportunities to [excel] in their majors, they will give you more chances to grow and to launch your own business,” she said.