Hussain Sajwani – DAMAC Foundation Sponsors ‘One Million Arab Coders’ Initiative

The Hussain Sajwani – DAMAC Foundation, a joint venture between DAMAC Properties and its CEO Mr. Hussain Sajwani, has signed a partnership memorandum to support and sponsor the One Million Arab Coders initiative. The initiative was launched by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to provide free programming training for one million young Arabs in order to empower them with the language of the future, coding, and to open the doors of opportunity for them.

Sheikh Mohammed said, “We thank Hussain Sajwani – DAMAC Foundation for supporting the One Million Arab Coders initiative, which seeks to empower young Arabs with the language of the modern era – an essential step toward building a brighter future. Our private sector institutions are key partners in development and play an active role in building tomorrow’s societies.”  

His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi, Secretary General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives (MBRGI), commended the Foundation for its support. He said, “Our private-sector institutions are key partners in our development. It is our shared responsibility to build a positive regional environment, as envisioned by the UAE’s leadership, and to create a culture of giving, building our future, and enhancing our competitiveness globally.”

Hussain Sajwani, Founder and Chairman of DAMAC Properties, said, “Supporting and sponsoring the One Million Arab Coders initiative is part of DAMAC’s vision to always promote leadership, development and excellence – we consistently work to improve quality of life and community structures. This goal is fruitless if we do not also consider human development and social rehabilitation. The One Million Coders initiative is a perfect example of a creative approach that promotes this by providing young Arabs with the tools to develop and build regional economies in the future.”

He continued, “Such initiatives, adopted by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, have cultural significance and instil hope in millions of young Arabs for a brighter future; this requires support from all sectors in the nation. We look forward to being one of the first institutions to welcome these new programmers, which will undoubtedly be a quality addition to our communities, and that contribute to our mission to develop and build better communities.”

He added, “DAMAC is keen to provide its full support and sponsorship of this initiative as an Emirati company with an established reputation of being a committed leader in development and is looking forward to strengthening its partnership with a number of institutions to advance the development process in all fields. Our responsibility to the community embraces the Arab world as shown by the vision of the UAE’s leadership to contribute to improving the reality of Arab societies and to build a culture of giving and investment in the human development of the Arab people.”

The One Million Arab Coders initiative is part of the MBRGI initiatives, dedicated to spreading education and knowledge in order to contribute to a renaissance in the Arab world, and to advance the region into a brighter future by investing in the youth, whose energies and abilities will build the future.

The initiative, which is also managed by the Dubai Future Foundation, consists of three phases to be completed over two years. The first phase includes enrolment by Arab students and tutors from across the world at www.arabcoders.ae. Here, participants can begin free education training, and receive a certificate at the end of each course.

In the second phase, the top 1,000 students will be selected through the Coders Challenge, and they will be able to enrol in, and receive, more advanced courses, scholarships and vocational courses for professionals. In the third stage, the top 10 coders will be selected. The first-place winner will receive an award of $1 million, while the remaining nine will receive $50,000 each. The top four tutors will receive $200,000, $50,000 each.

The initiative will empower young Arabs with knowledge so they can get jobs – current stats reveal that, globally, approximately 80 million jobs will be available in 2020 in software, smart phone applications and web development. Participants will enjoy the advantage of being part of a community that plays a key role in various key economic sectors, particularly e-commerce, IT and software engineering.