By Shambhawi Sahoo
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Afrah Shuja, a student of Al Khaleej National School presented to a group of about thirty participants in this highly interactive workshop. The workshop was divided into four segments.
In the first segment, she talked about how she turned her passion for psychology into an entrepreneurial project called LiveX. This project aims at providing accessible mental healthcare to people through artificial intelligence systems. She described the Livex phase plan which involved- organising outreach programs like mental health awareness events and creating digital resources on their website; getting funds by applying for awards to gain recognition and pitching in investors to invest in their project; enhancing marketing services through visual promotion events and collaborations; and developing tech systems by a hiring a dedicated team. She added that cold-emailing proved an effective method to amass support for the LiveX project. Reaching out to family members, friends, teachers was another way of gaining support. With collective efforts and consistency, LiveX is soon going to be launched as an app.
The second segment encouraged the participants to identify their skills and interests. Associating those skills and interests to a specific cause such as mental health, animal cruelty or poverty would help them find their passion. She briefly described the Sustainable Development Goals and the role they played in building a strong world. She added that discovering your passion and linking it to the Sustainable Development Goals is an excellent way of contributing to the society.
The third segment revolved around the concept of entrepreneurship. Afrah said that in order to dive into an entrepreneurial project one needs to be equipped with some skills. She mentioned two sets of skills- niche skills and broadly applicable skills. Niche skills include skills like website designing and mechanical engineering. The skills which are broadly applicable to entrepreneurship include public speaking, research negotiation, leadership, marketing, finance, time management and adaptability. She emphasised on Model UN conferences as a great way to learn soft skills. Planning is essential when you want to start a project. She advised the participants to create a plan which is “SMART”. The plan should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time based which means that it should include specific ideas related to the goal, include major milestones, the time limit within which it has to be completed as well as sub-plans specifying the steps that would be taken to achieve that goal. Befriending like-minded people and building a team of people who are passionate about the project is highly beneficial. She recommended asking for feedback from peers so as to improvise upon the project. “Don’t stop even if you hit roadblocks” she said while inspiring the participants to keep going on with their projects.
The fourth segment involved raising awareness about burning issues. At school and at the community level this could involve starting clubs, organising fundraising events, writing articles for the school newspaper and designing posters and brochures. Media is a huge force which can be used to communicate ideas to people as well as connect with them for support and guidance.
The workshop captured the minds of the participants and equipped them with basic knowledge of entrepreneurial skills as well as committing their passions to a cause for the betterment of the world.
The full recorded session of this workshop can be accessed here.