Tourism & Hospitality | Monday 26 August, 2019 4:58 pm |

A seminar entitled "Entrepreneurship, Reality and Challenges" was held at Souk Okaz on Sunday, part of the cultural programme. Noura Al Akil, Executive Director of Taif Season, attended the seminar, with leading academics participating. 

Amal Dukhan highlighted that entrepreneurship achieves practical benefits, and is focused on providing services that can be sold or marketed, and deliver benefits to multiple parties, helping to serve local economies and create jobs. 

Dr. Ali Almalai focused on the role of universities in research and innovation, praising the Ministry of Higher Education’s creation of an agency in this space, which will support entrepreneurial activity directly and indirectly. He added that the majority of universities should move away from just qualifying graduates for jobs and should pay greater attention to their development. 

Dr. Hossam Osman stressed the need for educational curricula to focus on leadership and innovation from early stages, with one of the most prominent obstacles to entrepreneurship being resistance to change. Successful entrepreneurial projects need speed and flexibility in their implementation, he noted. 

Entrepreneurship and marketing specialist Hossam Al-Qurashi discussed the success of such projects globally, providing figures for the US. 

The participants commended the Taif Season organizers, the University of Taif for its role in organizing the cultural programme, and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage for supporting the season.