Marking its third consecutive year in Saudi Arabia, the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy (HFEA) makes a return to the Kingdom this month, with Riyadh’s Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) hosting the first workshop of the year, followed by Effat University in Jeddah a week later.
As a result of expanding its partnerships in the Kingdom to include PNU last year, HFEA saw an approximate 30 percent increase over 2017 in the number of female students trained, with 32 percent more of Ford funds spent to make the additional workshops possible.
During The Entrepreneurship Journey program, Ford brought together several educational institutions, such as the US’ Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Ireland’s Dublin City University (DCU) Business School, both of which played a major part in shaping the first HFEA workshop held in Riyadh last year.
Jeddah’s Effat University has enjoyed continued HFEA success since 2017, having launched the first-ever women-only The Entrepreneurship Journey workshop in Saudi Arabia.
These HFEA workshops over the past two years have been offered to complement Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a government plan for economic and social reform that empowers women with the aim of increasing their numbers in the workforce.
“On the back of its most successful year in the region to date, training close to 300 entrepreneurs across six cities in three different countries, the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy is continuing to have a positive influence among some of the Kingdom’s brightest business minds,” said Simonetta Verdi, director, government and community relations, Ford Middle East and Africa.
“The workshops provide a high quality and interactive environment for aspiring businesspeople to experiment with their ideas in direct exchange with mentors and coaches, who offer invaluable experience,” Verdi added.
Jay Markiewicz, executive director of entrepreneurship programs at VCU School of Business and lead architect of HFEA, said:
“Our workshop is designed to equip current and future entrepreneurs with a set of tools to develop their skills and acumen around entrepreneurship.
“The workshop is built around an innovative learning meta-framework titled ‘The Entrepreneurship Journey,’ from which participants emerge with increased personal capacity to be successful as entrepreneurs, as they learn how to connect with and deliver their unique value contribution.”
