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| Perspective: Ahmed Ashadawi President Al-Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies |
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It was a thrilling experience to approach the site of the Shaybah Café, deep in the Empty Quarter. Our plane flew very low for a considerable distance over the vast expanse of red, mountainous sand dunes. As we watched from the airplane window, the dunes appeared to change shades before our eyes; however, that was just an optical illusion due to the widely varying angles of the sun’s reflection. Dotted between some of the dunes were flat, bare, white-colored areas resembling dry lake beds. We were told that these are salt flats called sabkas. Satellite photography over the years has confirmed that the dunes move around during storms and pass over—but never settle on—the sabkas, which remain in the same location as time goes by. So suddenly that it took everyone by surprise, the Saudi Aramco Shaybah facility came into view. Magnificently erected in the middle of nowhere, it looked like an exotic resort destination. The first thought that struck me when I looked down on the shiny new facility was, “This is not a shaybah (Arabic for “old man”); it’s a shabab (young man).”  Ahmed Ashadawi sharing ideas at the Shaybah Café I’ve recently learned that the Shaybah facility has been a location for Saudi Aramco Executive Management to conduct high level strategic planning. This trip—called Shaybah Café—is the first such meeting where non-Aramcons have been invited to attend and participate. Invitees included Saudi Arabian business leaders representing a broad spectrum of businesses and organizations throughout the Kingdom and Saudi Aramco, including 14 members of the Saudi Aramco Saudization Steering Committee, seven of whom are non-Aramco Saudi businessmen. The Shaybah Café has been organized by the Saudi Aramco chapter of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), a group dedicated to using the concepts of organizational learning to help organizations maximize their potential. Saudi Aramco Shaybah Café is actually a process of using dialogue to probe deeply into complex questions. I was privileged to sit with Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Abdullah Jum'ah. Mr. Jum'ah posed the following question to us: "We at Saudi Aramco are fully aware of what we need to do to stay ahead of the competition to remain the number one industry producer while responding equally to the challenge of national and community obligations and responsibilities; so I ask you as members of the non-Aramco business community, what are you doing to contributing to the community?”  Saudi Arabia's private sector must grow 6.8% in order to meet the demands of it's people. One of the suggestions that came up answered an agonizing question that’s been on my mind for many years. We all know that a major issue our country faces is empowering and enabling our youths with the skills, motivation, and ethics to help them get and hold jobs, and carry on from our generation the future of the country and our grandchildren. In fact, a few months ago, the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce conducted a two-day seminar on the subject of “Job Creation and Youth Motivation.” I recall listening to three distinguished professors specializing on the issues related to motivation, education and training youths, providing them with what is needed for the private sector to employ them. I posed the following questions at them at the end of their eloquent, academic speeches. “We have provided our youths with the privileges of an early retirement right before they’ve even started studying or working. They are very smart to figure out that since they have shelter, food, security, and entertainment, why would they go through the trouble of studying and working when they already have what their parents spent 40-odd years working to achieve (secured regular income and freedom to enjoy life)? This reality is reinforced by our cultural tradition to provide for our children as long as they need, so we can't really send them away once they reach 18. Furthermore, our Shariyah law requires that we help them get married financially, if we can afford to. During the Shaybah Café, I think I found part of the solution to this troubling dilemma. During the idea generation segment, Mr. Salim Al-Aydh, Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President of Engineering & Operations Services, gave a presentation on the theme of two possible futures for our children, one smiling and one crying, each supported by data on two graphs. The smiling child’s graph indicated improvement in future economic conditions. Unfortunately, that smiling future isn’t based on projections of current economic data. The actual economic data indicators of today, if they continue the way they’re going, lead to the crying child graph, which Mr. Al-Aydh called “empty pockets.” In fact, we must act now to rescue our children from the empty pockets future. The basic facts are a high population growth rate that requires our economy to grow by over 6% to maintain the existing GDP which is now between 5000 and 7000 US$ per year. Mr. Al-Aydh’s graph shows that by 2025, if things don’t change, an average Saudi would be living on $2 per day.  Mr. Salim Al-Aydh slide illustrates the possible 'empty pockets' scenario. One of the suggestions we discussed that I feel has a strong potential to motivate our youths is this: we should all share Mr. Al-Aydh’s graphs and data regarding the two possible futures—the smiling faces and the empty pockets—with our children, immediate relatives, and acquaintances. They simply don’t know what lies ahead. They are like a man who sees water in the distance as he walks toward the horizon, when it is actually only a mirage. Now, I urge and encourage each one of us to carry forth this message, day and night, to the people we know—especially our young—to help them understand the potentially ugly consequences of not taking positive action now. Best Regards, Ahmed Ashadawi, President Al-Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Co. Company Website: Http:// www.alfalak.com |
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©GulfSoL, 2005.
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