Within its activities targeted at supporting and developing young Jordanians

Amman, December 2009 – Within its interest in supporting Jordanian youth issues and participating in activities targeted at steering Jordanian youth towards benefiting civil society, Umniah – the fastest growing telecom service provider in Jordan – participated recently as a Gold Sponsor in the second edition of the “Youth Leadership for an Emerging Jordan” Forum. The Forum recently took place in the conference hall at the Ramada Hotel Amman, and was organized by AIESEC, with the participation of over 100 young Jordanians.
Umniah’s sponsorship of the Forum is in line with its belief in the Forum’s objectives, which are aimed at helping Jordanian youth gain a better understanding of the current social, economic and local issues. The sponsorship included the participation of Mr. Ihab Hinnawi, Umniah’s CEO, in the Forum’s main session on Jordan’s Vision 2020. During this session Mr. Hinnawi highlighted the importance of public private partnerships, and the National ICT Strategy aimed at increasing Internet penetration rates to 50% by 2010. He also referred to the efforts being placed by Umniah as a local company towards the national strategy through the provision of competitive and comprehensive Internet solutions and services to the Jordanian market in a manner that reflects a tangible success story for public private partnerships in Jordan. Mr. Hinnawi also spoke about the “Laptop for Each Student” initiative that was launched by the Government of Jordan within its strategy to develop the telecom sector.
Umniah’s sponsorship of the Forum also included the conduction of a workshop managed by Rania Salfiti, Communications Manager at Umniah; Karim Sharawi, Umniah’s Senior Products Developer; and Ahmad Alasker, Umniah’s Youth Officer. The workshop topics involved a number of issues including the telecom sector in Jordan and various youth issues with the participation of over 30 participants that were distributed into three groups; the first group was responsible for creating the most innovative mobile offer, whilst the second group was responsible for creating the most innovative Internet offer, and the third group was responsible for producing the most innovative social activity. After the workshop, a student was selected to receive a free 1-year subscription to Umax services from Umniah, and promotional material and youth lines were distributed to all workshop participants.
Commenting on this sponsorship, Mr. Ihab Hinnawi, Umniah's CEO, said: "We are proud of our participation in such an important event which corresponds with our objectives in placing youth at the forefront of our priorities. We believe in the importance of creating fruitful links between youth and the private sector, and discussing sustainable development issues and their effect on youth in order to create an aware and responsible generation that is capable of contributing to Jordan’s development and progress."
Mr. Hinnawi added: “I was both proud of and impressed by the positive interaction that I witnessed in the workshop conducted by Umniah during the Forum. The students actively contributed to the success of the workshop, expressing their opinions and future ambitions through innovative ideas and solutions. I hope that the workshop succeeded in activating their abilities, unleashing their potential, and building a spirit of team work, leadership and competition amongst them.”
Ms. Refqa Ghaith, Vice-President of External Relations in AIESEC-Jordan, expressed her pleasure with this sponsorship, recognizing the various initiatives launched by Umniah towards supporting local institutions in different areas, particularly those related to the future of youth. She expressed her gratitude to the Umniah team for their efforts towards supporting AIESEC and ensuring the success of the Forum. She added: “We look forward to future cooperation within the context of these ambitious initiatives to develop and support the promising leaders of the future.”
It is worth noting that Umniah signed a partnership agreement with AIESEC-Jordan aimed at implementing a Global Internship Program. Due to this program, Umniah has been hosting a group of foreign students and fresh graduates that specialize in different fields to train and work within four of the company's departments including the Customer Service, Marketing, Human Resources, and Finance departments. Jordanian students and fresh graduates will in turn have the opportunity to travel and undergo similar training abroad by applying to AIESEC Jordan's Global Internship Program.
AIESEC is the largest organization run by students in the world, and serves as an international platform for students to explore and develop their leadership qualities, and has activities in more than 1700 universities in different parts of the world, “AIESEC” has organized and managed more than 470 conferences for their 50,000 members each year during the 60 years of its existence.

This news release has been distributed by Bidaya Corporate Communications on behalf of Umniah.
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