Business & Money | Thursday 24 March, 2016 7:30 am |

The Qassim province has honored top 25 self-made young men and women who will shape the future of the province during an exclusive ceremony held at Movenpick Hotel here.

The 9th Youth Forum under the theme “Our Young Our Future” kicked off on Tuesday under the aegis of Emir of Qassim Prince Faisal Bin Mishal and with the attendance of several dignitaries. Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad was the guest of honor.

Dr. Nasser Bin Aqeel Al-Tayyar, president of Arab Publisher House and Publisher of Forbes Middle East, Executive Director of the Human Resources Development Fund Abdulkarim Al-Nujaidi and Ibrahim Al-Zuwaid, chairman of the Qassim Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as top officials, businessmen and investors from various sectors were present.

The emir handed prizes to the distinguished young men and women.

Prince Faisal with the guests opened an exhibition displaying projects of some of the self-made youths and companies providing franchises, on the sidelines of the forum.

The emir hailed the self-made young men and women who won the prizes and said, “Young Saudis should not turn down blue-collar jobs and they must explore opportunities to create their own work.”

He expressed his pleasure over opening the forum to discuss and find job solutions and opportunities for Saudi youths, pointing out that the award was launched to motivate the youths to find jobs and to encourage them to achieve their business objectives.

He also praised the role of Qassim Chamber in organizing the forum, which is held for the 9th year in a row.

Pointing at Mahathir and Al-Tayyar, he said, “I hope you all should learn from these two distinguished people who started from scratch and strove very hard to become very successful personalities.”

Mahathir, who shared the success story of Malaysia in his speech, said: “This is my first time in this part of Saudi Arabia and you should be proud to be the biggest producer of dates in the world. These days it is very important for such young people to try to do things for themselves.”

He urged them not to depend on the government and seek their own paths and professions.

He further said: “We cannot live in isolation any more. Globalization is not about trade and investments only. Globalization must affect everything that we do. As Muslims we must be open to the new world in a new way, particularly at this present time.”

He called on the young people of Qassim to “produce and market your own products and never depend on others.”

Mahathir, who served as Malaysia’s prime minister between 1981 and 2003, said observing the growth of other countries like Japan helped Malaysia in its development and industrial plan.

“Despite the development of the West, we went to the east to learn from them because we knew that such countries as China, Japan and Korea were working hard and they were growing,” he said.

Delivering his keynote speech, Al-Tayyar lauded the vital role of the Saudi leadership in supporting entrepreneurship according to the vision and directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman.”

Al-Tayar also shared his success story with the audience.

He noted that the multiplicity and diversity of startups would ensure that Saudi economy would remain sustainable and lively, adding that the achievement of the leadership’s ambitious goals would require concerted efforts and exchange of ideas between decision-makers in the public and private sectors.

Al-Nujaidi emphasized the importance of the forum to draw a future way for the youth and wished that the forum would yield positive results in the service of the homeland and its citizens.

In conclusion, Prince Faisal honored the forum’s sponsors and handed over two memorial gifts to Mahathir and Al-Tayyar who also in turn presented mementos to the prince.