Social media platform TikTok and Injaz partner to educate Arab youth

In its first in-person regional event held at the TikTok lounge in Dubai Studio City on May 24, TikTok announced its partnership with INJAZ, the non-profit organisation for education and training in workforce readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneurship across the Arab world to raise awareness of their ‘Future Jobs Initiative’ programme.

TikTok, which is primarily used as an entertainment platform, aims to roll out a series of educational videos to prepare the highly engaged young audience on its platform to prepare themselves for the future.

The platform has brought together a group of key opinion leaders, who currently hold coveted jobs at companies, including Microsoft, McKinsey and MetLife to create a series of simple, informative videos that will be available on the platform. These videos will prepare and educate the youth for the future job market.

According to TikTok, audiences on the platform connect with authentic and raw content of personal stories. The human element that wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves is what connects them.

Talal Al Fayez, head of Public Policy, TikTok MENAT, said, “By releasing these videos, we aim to help communities thrive and inspire the new generation of entrepreneurs and change-makers to be active and pursue their dreams.”

Talat also said that he wants the youth to create, post and ask questions in the comments using the hashtag #iamfutureready, and they will respond to the questions asked.

“Through our partnership with INJAZ, we are able to do so in a tangible way by bringing more awareness to the jobs of the future, encouraging the youth to explore these growing and lucrative fields. INJAZ’s network, the company’s expertise and their research itself has identified the specific fields that are denoted as the fields of the future when it comes to jobs.”

Akef Alaqrabawi, president and CEO, INJAZ Al-Arab, said of the partnership, “A recent study conducted in collaboration with Oliver Wyman revealed 51 per cent of MENA youth feel that they lack the work experience necessary to finding employment, yet by 2040 an estimated 127 million young Arabs are expected to join the MENA workforce.

“INJAZ Al-Arab is committed to enabling the next generation of entrepreneurs, and through our strategic partnership with the support of TikTok, we are able to connect directly with today’s youth, providing them with the knowledge needed to navigate their futures. We look forward to future collaborations with TikTok as we continue to expand our reach in driving today’s youth as they become tomorrow’s leaders.”