Sharjah Tatweer Forum and SAP Partner to Support Business Innovation and Youth Development

Coaching Sessions, Smart City Design Thinking Workshops, and Supporting Youth Entrepreneurs to Boost Sharjah’s Sustainable Growth

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates - 23 August 2015 — The youth-empowerment organization Sharjah Tatweer Forum and enterprise software company SAP announced today that they have joined forces to support business innovation, economic growth, and youth development in Sharjah.

In line with the UAE Vision 2021 and National Innovation Strategy, Sharjah Tatweer Forum will leverage SAP’s expertise and best practices to support innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, and public-private partnerships that can help fuel Sharjah’s sustainable development.

Demonstrating the strong opportunities, Sharjah’s GDP grew by 8.5 percent in 2014, boosted by investment in economic, commercial, and cultural projects, according to the Sharjah Economic Development Department, which shows Sharjah has more than 100 industrial, construction, and transportation projects to 2018.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Jassem Al Beloushi, Chairman of Sharjah Tatweer Forum and Tayfun Topkoc Managing Director, SAP United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Sharjah Tatweer Forum aims to enable young leaders to contribute to the progress and sustainable development of Sharjah, by implementing viable projects and productive interaction.

Jassem Al Beloushi, Chairman of Sharjah Tatweer Forum, said: “As Sharjah’s economy and tech-savvy youth population continue to grow, this partnership with SAP will enable us to synergizing industry, technology, and human growth to support sustainable development. By leveraging SAP’s global expertise and Design Thinking, we are dedicated to enabling the next generation of technology entrepreneurs to reach their dreams and grow their businesses.”

The centerpiece of the agreement will be SAP Middle East and North Africa’s Training and Development Institute conducting Design Thinking sessions for Sharjah’s top industry executives and Sharjah Tatweer Forum’s board members. Design Thinking uses a people-centered, problem-solving approach to deliver innovative solutions, through constant collaborative brainstorming, research, prototypes, and feedback.

SAP will also support Sharjah Tatweer Forum’s leadership program with coaching and one-on-one sessions; launch a design thinking workshop for planning Sharjah as a Smart City; support entrepreneurs with SAP enterprise software; and have senior executives present at Sharjah Tatweer Forum events.

Tayfun Topkoc Managing Director, SAP UAE, said: “Our partnership with Sharjah Tatweer Forum continues our long-term support for the UAE’s economic growth and youth development, with Design Thinking enabling innovation. With Millennials comprising three-quarters of the global workforce by 2025, we must empower youth to leverage technology to take the lead in transforming Sharjah’s companies and society, and support Sharjah’s sustainable growth.”

Showing the need to support the next generation workforce in Sharjah and the UAE, more than half of UAE business executives --54 percent -- cited Millennials entering the workforce as the top labor market shift, according to the “Workforce 2020” report by SAP and Oxford Economics.

However, only 33 percent of executives said they have a strong vision to build the workforce of the future, especially with growing demand for cloud, analytics, mobile, and social media skills, the report shows.