As Oman entered 2021 with a refurbished set of policies on economic development of which manpower building is a key goal, the Edlal program on entrepreneurship, co-founded by Omantel, assumes even greater significance as a tool providing the much-needed resources towards meetings these objectives.
Omantel is the strategic co-founder of Edlal initiative along with Point and Rudha and since the program’s inception in 2017, it has been providing leading technology and financial support.
The Edlal initiative on entrepreneurship has been building and strengthening Oman’s manpower foundations through free high-quality online, certified, video and interactive training courses designed to cover the future skills required by the national and international job market, with Omantel as the digital enabler. Through its website www.edlal.org and its app, the initiative has been targeting students, job seekers, employees and entrepreneurs.
Edlal has gained immense popularity since it was launched as the number of beneficiaries has grown to reach more than 250,000, underscoring the digital program’s success. Omantel and founders of this program are confident that users’ numbers will see a good increase this year as well with the initiative spanning the entire calendar year, from January 1, until December 31, 2021.
By integrating high-quality educational development programs with creative visual arts delivered through a uniquely accessible platform, Edlal is indirectly contributing towards Oman’s Vision 2040. Targeted at learners in the 13-40 years age group, the training opportunities offered on Edlal are accessible, flexible, and economical.
The brainchild of Qais Al Toubi and Haitham Al Toubi in 2017, Edlal’s philosophies are centered on ‘technopreneurship’, skills development and youth empowerment. The program aims to contribute to the human capital development vision and direction of Oman and has been helping Omani experts share their knowledge and expertise with lifelong learners. The parallel aim has been to enrich Arabic online content.
Seeing similarities in the goals of Point and Rudha and its own CSR roles and contributions towards the national economy and entrepreneurship, Omantel became a founder to support their cause and offer its brand value as the vehicle for reaching digital inclusion and professional development goals.
Edlal has more than 60 courses in the form of short, interactive videos, which learners are more likely to complete within a few hours, with topics focusing on technical as well as soft skills. The most popular courses include leadership & entrepreneurship and future skills, underscoring Omanis’ seriousness towards professional development to meet job market challenges. Adding to that, Edlal is compatible with any device, be it a laptop, desktop or a smartphone.
In 2018, Edlal won His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment for best SME e-service and was mentioned in the Arab Youth SDGs Report 2019 for contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals by providing quality education, decent work, economic growth and partnership to achieve SDGs (Sustainable Developmental Goals).
As this initiative enters its fifth consecutive year, Omantel looks forwards to continue providing its latest digital and technical offerings as support, and yet again play the role of a platform through which more and more Omanis can upskill.
Laila Mohammed Al Wohaibi, Manager of CSR at Omantel, said, “In each of its CSR initiatives, Omantel looks for opportunities to push Oman’s shift towards a knowledge-based and digital economy, which is one of the objectives of Oman Vision 2040, a document which also incorporates the UN Sustainable Development Goals in local and global contexts. The Company understands that shaping entrepreneurs means equipping them with skills, technological knowhow, support and awareness. Edlal is one such initiative wherein Omantel is proud to be playing the role of not just a founder, but an enabler. Omantel has been digitally powering Edlal and thus working towards the larger sustainable development and economic goals by equipping Omanis with the required skills and knowledge for the market. We are stepping into a yet another successful year of the Edlal initiative and cannot reiterate enough the pride and sense of achievement the company has been deriving by this strategic initiative”.
Haitham Al Tobi, Idlal “Edlal platform is continuing its journey of offering cognitive learning in 2021 through 20 high-quality training programs which will be developed in collaboration with its strategic partner, Omantel. What sets this year’s courses apart is that the platform will collaborate with educational and training institutions in Oman and abroad to provide the learning and training materials that aim to help the youth, students and job seekers to acquire the sought-after skills in the local and global job markets, which also contribute to achieving Oman’s Vision 2040 in which developing human resources and upskilling youth are important.”
Omantel is the Sultanate’s first and leading integrated telecommunications services provider, enabling the digital society to flourish, allowing new ways of doing business and delivering a world of information, news and entertainment. While striving to ensure optimum customer satisfaction, Omantel plays a key social role to provide the required support and subsidy to all sectors of the Omani society.
Source: Omantel Press Release