Sharjah24: Zayed University Alumni Association, in coordination with the Student Careers and Alumni Department, hosted five graduates experts in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, including graduates of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for government innovation.

The virtual session was moderated by Maryam Al Ali, ZU graduate from the bachelor's and master's programs from College of Business, and the founder of "Ghabsha Training Center", in which a group of distinguished graduates with innovative projects participated.

Alumnus Mohammad Ahmad shared his experience in transforming a traditional customer service platform into an interactive platform, aimed at increasing interaction and making customers happy. He said: "Innovation has become an essential component in the system of companies and institutions, those who chose to lay back during the Covid-19 period have dramatically lost a lot to the extent of shutting down and closed their doors, but those who innovated and developed new ideas benefited from the crisis and succeeded.”

Arwa Al-Saiari believes innovation is a way of life, and calls upon Zayed University students to realize that innovation is not linked to specific certificates or experiences, so she urges them to delve into this field and unleash ideas: “Being proficient in your work and always trying to improve or come up with new solutions is considered the beginning of innovation. I always advise you to take advantage of the opportunities that Zayed University offers to its graduates.”

Ahmed Al-Sumaiti and Abdullah Al-Obaidly, co-founders of the "Dalili" project, decided to start an innovative project to represent the country through a tourist guide application service. “The global pandemic transformed our vision to start a platform on social media, to transmit information about the UAE through weekly vlogs and podcasts that highlight new places.” 

Maryam Issa Al Ali spoke about her experience about innovation in her opening of the Ghabsha Training Center, saying: "This center aims to produce something tangible for the trainees that they can implement immediately." She added: "I faced many challenges during the global  lockdown period of the Covid-19, so I quickly changed the direction of my project in order to adapt to the new system that relies on remote training, and then I faced other challenges in the presence and interaction of the trainees, so I created new methods to increase interaction."

Maryam advises the students to work in a "circle of success" method, which is based on trying and then failing, learning, developing and trying again to come up with innovative solutions.