Generation 8 – Elevate day

Saturday started at AUK Auditorium with Mentor Fatma Al Qadfan, where the workshop included many activities that helped the Candidates to build on the skills gained in previous sessions. Also, the Candidates learnt about the importance of storytelling, and the university of emotions.

Later on the day, the Candidates went to Elevation Burger and had a delicious lunch. After lunch, The Candidates were given a challenge by Elevation Burger team and they had only 20 minutes to complete it. When the time was done, the Candidates presented their ideas to a judging panel, which consisted of Ms. Mona Nuseibah and Ms. Deema Al Ateeji were judged based on how realistic, creative and relatable the outcome was.

Generation 8 – Ooredoo 24hr Challenge Day

Mr. Abdullah Al Najdi who is the Segment Marketing Senior Specialist in Ooredoo welcomed The Proteges team and the Candidates at Ooredoo’s Head Office. The 24hrs challenge started right after the meet and greet, where Mr. Abdallah presented the 24hr challenge for the Candidates. He asked the Candidates to transform the current version of Ooredoo’s mobile application to a modern version with the best features to attract more customers to utilize it. He concluded the presentation by mentioning the evaluation criteria and the judging panel expectations.

Following that, the Candidates were split into 5 teams and each team started to brainstorm and research with the presence of Mentor Mohammed Al Munaikh. Mentor Mohammed Al Munaikh and Mr. Nasser Al Humaidi supported the Candidates by sharing their experiences in mobile application development.

After couples of hours, during the brainstorming session the Candidates started to feel tense and overwhelmed. And Mentor Fatma Al Qadfan came and did an activity to bring their energy back so that they feel energized to carry on their work.

Later on, the Candidates met Mr. Ahmed Al Zamel and pitched their ideas to him. Mr. Ahmed gave his feedback to each groups and wished them the best of luck. After that, the Candidates had a little break in which they met Mr. Mohammed Mirza and had an iced delicious coffee from Ushk coffee.

The Candidates then continued their brainstorming and before bedtime, they had a great dinner meal from Junkyard. After dinner, Mentor Yarub Bourahmah joined the Candidates to check if they need any support. Some of the Candidates fell asleep at that time, while others stayed awake to continue working. Mentor Yarub Bourahmah observed the teams while they were working and supported them when they asked.

When the sun came out, the Candidates were still working with full commitment and dedication on their presentations. The Candidates had a delicious breakfast from Lange Doux and continued working to meet the deadline.

The Candidates had a morning meeting with Mr. Mijbil Al Ayoub who is the Senior Director Corporate Communications at Ooredoo. Mr. Mijbil Spoke about his career and encouraged the Candidates to work hard and benefit from this great experience. Then it was time for a midday treat from DOH.

Continuing the challenge, the Candidates met Mr. Trapan Tripathi who is the Chief Marketing Officer in Ooredoo. Mr. Trapan spoke about the importance and the necessity of mobile phones nowadays and how these devices are playing a major role in our everyday life.

Proceeding with the challenge, the Candidates started to add the final touches on their work and practiced their presentations. After the lunch, the moment has arrived, and the teams were asked to present to a judging panel consisting of Mentor Yarub Bourhsamah, Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar, Mr. Mijbil Al Ayoub, Mr. Yousef Al Shallal, and  Mr. Abdullah Al Najdi. Each team was given 15 minutes maximum to present and each presentation ended with a Q&A from the judging panel.

At the end, the panel evaluated each team based on a certain criteria and only one group was announced the winner. It was very tough choice to make as all teams have done an amazing job, yet team 2 was the most creative team. Ooredoo rewarded the winner team and took a group picture with all of the Candidates and The Proteges team. The Proteges Mentors, Chancellors and Candidates thanked Ooredoo for the amazing opportunity, hospitality and support.

Generation 8 – PR & Marketing Day

The day started with Dr. Samar Baqer who spoke briefly about herself and her career life. Dr. Samar spoke in details about marketing, strategies, market target and advertising. She also stated that nowadays advertising is being more important than marketing. Dr. Samar moved to another topic which was about promotions. She said that promotions consist of PR, sales promotions and digital marketing in social media.

Dr. Samar spoke further about social media and advertising. She said that advertising in social media requires a lot of creativity and work due to the one-way communication with the audience. She also said that advertisement in social media must be directed to the customer to make him/her aware about your company or your brand. Dr. Samar stated that social media is a great tool when you have a great content and know how to work your content and reach your market target.

Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar continued the day speaking about his work in branding over the past 15 years. Mentor Shamlan showed the Candidates the logos he created and asked them to guess the company’s line of business. He then explained to the Candidates the process of branding and logo creation.

Mentor Shamlan then did a competition, in which he split the Candidates into two groups and challenged them to create a new sports clothing line with its logo and slogan. He also asked the Candidates to use mood boards and color themes to support their work. They were given only 45 minutes to complete their full work and be ready to present to a judging panel.

After the time was up, the Candidates presented their work to the Mentors, Dr. Samar and Al Nasser Sports representative Mrs. Fatima Al Rashid. Then, the Mentors agreed and announced the winners and they assured the Candidates that they will apply their ideas with minor improvements. And panel requested that the two groups work together as one team in developing the idea.

After that, Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar presented the final challenge for the day where he asked the Candidates to create a poster for Mentor Fatma Al Qadfan’s play. The Candidates were given 1 hour to finish the task. When the time was done, the Candidates came up with two great posters and the Mentors were impressed by their artistic and creative work.

 

Generation 8 – Business Challenge

The day started at NIU where the Candidates were divided into 6 groups, each group met with a startup owner. The startups were: Mr. Ahmad Tahir who is the Founder of “Quirky Toes”, Ms. Khadija Bu Abbas who is the Founder of “Let’s Speech”, Mr. Ali Al Nesef who is the Founder of “Manshoor”, Mr. Adel Al Ansari who is the Founder of “Zahhab”, Mrs. Eleanor Burton and Ms. Layan Al Dabt who are the Founders of “en.v” and Mr. Omar Riaz who is the Founder of “Noir Square”.

All owners spoke to their assigned group about their current business plan, mission, vision, marketing strategy, target audience and much more. Then, each group was challenged to create a creative business plan for its startup. The Candidates were given limited time to finish their project as they were requested to present their new proposed business plan within 3 hours only.

After the deadline, the Founders met again with their groups and the Candidates had only 5 minutes to present their new business plan. The Founders were extremely impressed with the Candidates’ creativity, innovation and they assured the Candidates that they will implement many of the suggested ideas immediately.

Proceeding with the challenge, the Candidates were asked to present their ideas to everyone including all Mentors, Chancellors and Management. Once the groups finished presenting, two groups were nominated to be named as the winner group. All Candidates voted, and then Mentor Abdulaziz Al Loughani announced the winners according to the votes and the group was rewarded with a delicious ice-cream.

At the end of the day, all Mentors reflected on the groups’ work and gave them some feedback and area of improvements for the next group project such as: the importance of understanding the business market, the importance of including facts and statistics in any business plan, and the importance of using self-interest and talents.

 

Generation 8 – Creativity & Innovation Day

Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar started the day with some challenges that encouraged the Candidates to think outside of the box. One of the challenges included that the Candidates create a creative object from fine iron wires using Alfa toolbox. With the limited given time each group tried to achieve the challenge’s goal and only one group completed the challenge and was named the winner.

The guest of the day was Mr. Fazl Siddiqui who is The President of Cupidiates Leadership Academy. Mr. Fazl introduced himself and asked the Candidates to make themselves comfortable as he needs them to be focused. He then began the Creativity and Innovation workshop and spoke about the things that distracts us in life. Also, Mr. Fazl emphasized on the importance of positive thinking, he said that positivity helps the mind to be clear.

Furthermore, Mr. Fazl spoke about the influence of gratitude in our daily life. He said that the person who is grateful will always have the energy to be more creative and focused. Mr. Fazl then defined Creativity and Innovation and the difference between the two words.

Mr. Fazl spoke in details about the types of people such as: the extroverts, the introverts, the dominant, the influencer, the stable and the compliance. And, that broadened the perspective of the Candidates about the functionality of each type. Mr. Fazl also said that all of the types are good and it is not about who is better than the other. He ended this part of the workshop with a phrase saying: “Nobody knows everything”.

Mr. Fazl encouraged the Candidates to ask for help when it is needed. And to prove that, he mentioned stories about Dalai Lama and said that Dalai Lama himself was not ashamed to say “I do not know” when he was not sure about something.

After that, Mr. Fazl split the Candidates to 4 groups and asked each group to come up with an idea and try to implement it. He told them that they must consider some factors when implementing their idea such as: setting the goal, defining the problem, considering the challenges, studying the cost, knowing the audience, and the breakdown of the organization.

Mr. Fazl kept an eye on each group during the process of implementation and gave some guidance when it was needed. The Candidates came up with great ideas and plans, and they all presented them to Mr.Fazl. In the end, Mr. Fazl thanked the Candidates and The Proteges team for the opportunity and in return the Candidates thanked him and took a group picture with him.

Generation 8 – Business Canvas

Saturday started with Mentor Fatmah Al Qadfan at Maria Al Qubtiya High School, where the Candidates had their drama therapy workshop. Mentor Fatmah Al Qadfan did many activities with the Candidates to strengthen their verbal and nonverbal communication through improvisation, reflection and theatre games. 

The improvisation exercises enhanced the Candidates’ confidence and allowed them to sharpen their listening skills. After the workshop the Candidates became aware about the importance of building each other’s ideas and experiences.

Later on the day, the Candidates went to Elevation Burger to have their lunch. When they arrived the Candidates were split into 5 groups, each group took a tour inside Elevation Burger kitchen and selected Candidates had the chance to help inside the kitchen. 

After that, the Candidates went to NIU where they met Ms. Reem Al Hasawi. Ms. Reem gave a brief introduction about herself, about NIU’s work, and gave the Candidates a quick tour around the coworking place. Following that, she promised the Candidates that she will give them the chance to work for 3 months as a gift after they officially graduate from The Proteges Program.

The Candidates then had a workshop with Mentor Mohammed Al Munaikh and Mentor Abdulaziz Al Loughani where they learnt about Business Model Canvas, the definition of a business and what are the business channels. Also, the Mentors explained customer relations and value proposition.

Then, the Candidates were split into 6 groups and they were given a challenge, in which each group created a nonexistent company and had to create their own Business Model Canvas. After that, all of the groups presented their models, and Mentor Abdulaziz and Mentor Mohammed evaluated the models and announced the winner group.

Generation 8 – Beautiful Failure

Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar started the day by asking the Candidates to present the “stop motion” video about the mentors’ code. After the representation of the video, Mentor Shamlan asked the Candidates some questions about Failure.

Then Mentor Yarub told the Candidates to tell each other about the positive side that they noticed in each other while working on the video. Following that, Mentor Shamlan and Mentor Yarub shared their opinions about what they have witnessed during the work of the Candidates.

Mentor Shamlan asked the Candidates to share their thoughts about “Beautiful Failure” and to define what it is. Then he shared his personal story, and the struggles he went through, which was related to the topic. After that, Mentor Yarub asked the Candidates to redefine “Beautiful Failure” after they have heard the story of Mentor Shamlan.

Further, Mentors Abdulaziz Al Loughani, Yarub Bourahmah, Mohammed Al Munaikh and Protégé Wadha Al Dabbous from Generaion 5 shared their personal failure stories, their struggles in life and how did they overcome it. And they all agreed that failure is never an end point, it is just lessons that they benefited from.

Finally, a song called “We are the champions” was played to uplift the Candidates and to make them feel more powerful. Then, they all had a delicious sweet weekend treat from “Chubby balls”.

Generation 8 – KAMCO & The Day of Change

The day started with an introduction from Mr. Faisal Hassan who is the Chief Business Development Officer and Head of Investment Research at KAMCO. Mr. Faisal introduced himself and talked briefly about KAMCO’s work and aim. He further spoke about KAMCO’s support to The Proteges program and how KAMCO is excited to be part of this day. And, he concluded the talk with wishing Generation 8 the best in their journey.

Proceeding with the day, Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar then begun his workshop, in which he started with few icebreakers exercises to make the Candidates feel more energized and to prepare them for the next part of the day, which was brainstorming.

Mentor Shamlan asked the Candidates to brainstorm a very simple project with high impact. He also showed them few videos of some projects as an example. The Candidates were given a specific time-frame so that they get the project done. The Candidates came out with a great idea and then presented it to Mentor Shamlan.

Later on, Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar presented another challenge for the day, which was creating a “Stop Motion” video of the Mentors code of conduct that will enable Generation 8 to put their own stamp in the future Generations. The Candidates worked on the challenge, they brainstormed, did their research and split themselves in different teams depending on their passion and their skills. A deadline was given to the Candidates to finish and present their final product on the next day to see whether they manage and succeed in the challenge or not.

 

Generation 8 – URC Day

The day started at Hessah Al Mubarak Towers Project Centre, where the Candidates met United Real Estate Company team (URC). Mr. Hamad Al Mulaifi the Director of Sales and Marketing Department welcomed the Candidates and introduced his team. Mr. Hamad Al Mulaifi introduced “Dhahyat Hessah Al Mubarak” project and briefed the Candidates on its vision and current stage. Mr. Hamad also mentioned the fact that Hessah Al Mubarak is the first privately owned area in Kuwait and presented to the Candidates the models of both High and low rise buildings. He further spoke about the prices of the apartments and the project’s target audience.

Following that, URC team splitted the Candidates to 5 teams and then presented the first challenge of the day, where the Candidates needed to create a sales and marketing strategy for “Dhahyat Hessah Al Mubarak” project to attract investors and buyers. Halfway through the challenge, the Candidates were requested to stop working on the challenge as it was time to move to the next location for the day.

The Candidates met again at Marina Hotel where they were greeted by Marina World team. Everyone enjoyed a light brunch and networking before kicking off the second part of the day. Marina World team gave an introduction about Marina Mall history and they conclude the presentation with presenting to the Candidates the second Challenge of the day. The second challenge was to create a long term plan for Marina crescent during summer season.

The Candidates had only one hour to work on both challenges and then pitch it for a panel consisting of higher management from both URC and Marina World. To name few of the panel judges: Mr. Hamad AlMulaifi – Director of Sales and Marketing at URC, Mr. Rashed Hamadah – Regional Property Manager at URC, Mr. Samir Harmouche – Chief Property Management Officer, and Abdulaziz AlNasser – Operation Manager at Marina World. After that, each group presented their ideas to the panel and in return received a very honest feedback. The panel was impressed with few of the groups’ ideas however they were expecting much more. Both Mentors Shamlan AlBahar and Mohammed AlMunaikh at the end reflected with the Candidates on the day and spoke about what went wrong and how they can avoid it in the future.

Later on the day, the Candidates met the traveller Ms. Mariam Al Sultan at AUK, where she started the session asking the Candidates to guess what she does in life. Then, she introduced herself and spoke about her experiences in life. Ms. Mariam started talking about her first experience in participating in a Marathon in North Korea, she told the Candidates the story that carried all the obstacles and the challenges she faced in order to participate in that Marathon. Ms. Mariam then told them about the most difficult project she worked on in Iraq, and how she did not expect herself to be working for something in Iraq after Kuwait Invasion in 1990. Yet, she was and still proud that she was serving humanity.

Also, Ms. Mariam told the Candidates about her unique experience in bungee jumping, where she jumped over an active volcano. She also spoke about her experiences in different places around the world, such as Mauritania, Venezuela, Latin America, Algeria, Albania, Afghanistan and Damascus. She mentioned that the places she visited were not safe to visit, yet she was courageous and curious enough to travel and explore. She told the Candidates that she has her own statement about travelling, which is “Travelling shapes who you are”. Adding to that, she said that travelling takes parts from you and adds another parts. Ms. Mariam concluded her talk by sharing her learning with the Candidates, saying that it’s important to fix broken things rather than throwing them away.

Proceeding with the day, the Candidates met Generation 1 Protege Ms. Fai Al Omran who has passion for filmmaking. Mentor Shamlan Al Bahar introduced Ms. Fai Al Omran to the Candidates and spoke briefly about her career life. She then carried on the session talking more about her passion and what led her to where she is now. Protege Fai spoke about her first volunteering experience, in which she witnessed filmmaking and learnt a lot. She said at that time, she did not really care about the salary as much as her experience. Protege Fai believed that one must not put any limits to what he/she wants to achieve in his/her life. She further said that one must advocate him/herself not to be afraid from trying. She spoke about her experience as a producer assistant at VFX company, and that she had learnt a lot from her position by making the best she can out of the opportunity. Also, she said that utilizing the resources and the opportunities around her had helped her a lot in her career life. She emphasized on the importance of teamwork, and she said that her team had helped her in funding her first short film production.

Protege Fai concluded by talking about the obstacles she faced and explained to the Candidates how she overcame them. She also said that “Asking is the best way of getting things done”, and that she would always ask the people around her for their help when she needs it.

Generation 8 – Subliminal Messages

Mrs. Amal Al Binali who is The Vice President for Admissions & Public Affairs at The American University in Kuwait started the day by introducing herself, her position in AUK and her career life. Mrs. Amal advised the Candidates to help and respect each other and also to read as much as they can to understand their audience in any business. Mrs. Amal emphasized in her speech on the importance of diversity, and that it is important that we appreciate and respect those from different backgrounds and different cultures.

Later on the day Mentor Yarub Bourahmah started his workshop by asking the Candidates “What is love?” The Candidates shared their thoughts about “Love” with Mentor Yarub.

Mentor Yarub then spoke about advertisement and how they are designed to attract us. He said that each store and each brand communicates with a certain type of people. And to do that, there are specific techniques which are used in advertising to attract people. Yet the main and most influential technique is “Subliminal Messages”.

Mentor Yarub displayed many advertisement pictures and asked the Candidates to comment on each picture and to share their thoughts. He then introduced the term “Conditioning” and asked the Candidates if anyone knows what conditioning is?

They all agreed that it is programming someone’s behaviour so that he/she becomes attached to a certain reaction in a certain situation. Mentor Yarub then stated that advertisement uses conditioning to attract more and more people. For example, love in advertisement was attached to approval and satisfaction and that is not the case in reality.

Mentor Yarub also spoke about other techniques such as using famous people with certain status. By doing this, the advertisements set a standard for the public that they should live their lives in a certain way. Further, Mentor Yarub spoke about the power of brands and how they can attract their customers not only to buy from them, but also to advertise to them by buying. Mentor Yarub told the Candidates that it is the person’s choice whether to be fooled or to be aware about these advertisements.

Mentor Yarub moved to another part where subliminal messages are used, where he played a video for the Candidates, which was a small clip of a movie. He then explained to the Candidates how production works and how the producer can represent the character according to his desires.  Thus, Mentor Yarub emphasized on the importance of dialects and how they can affect the way we see and perceive. He advised the Candidates to question everything we see so that we do not get fooled easily.

Following that, Mentor Yarub did an activity in which he asked the Candidates who loves photography to take photos of their mates who consider themselves as photogenic. In this exercise Mentor Yarub wanted the Candidates to learn about the power of the shot and that the power of the person is derived from the power of the photographer’s shot.

Other videos about fast judgements were played to the Candidates. And Mentor Yarub spoke about how media shows us certain things which not necessarily reflect reality. He also told the Candidates that it is important not to blindly believe what is shown to us even though. Mentor Yarub concluded the workshop by playing some influential songs by Michael Jackson, as an example for the things that aim to deliver good messages with a great impact, not only to the society but the world.