Deloitte and INJAZ Al-Arab develop social media marketing app for Arab youth

Deloitte and INJAZ Al-Arab, an NGO focused on boosting employment opportunities for Arab youth, partnered together to develop a unique Social Media Marketing App to educate students on the use of marketing across social media platforms as a means to boost sales and retain customers.

The App encouraged over 500 students from five Arab countries to create 30-second marketing videos to promote a product or service, which were then uploaded to Facebook to be vetted by the general public. In total 55 videos from 55 student companies were submitted of which the top ten students whose video generated the most public votes went on to receive further mentorship in the field of social media marketing by Deloitte volunteers.

Commenting on the initiative, Deputy Regional Director of INJAZ Al-Arab Akef Aqrabawi said: “Youth today are extremely tech-savvy and the app was an excellent method of furthering their learning experience.”

“Marketing is a specialised field that requires individuals to be creative, and through this initiative we were able to encourage students to think about the multiple ways of connecting and engaging consumers in presenting and selling products. Deloitte has been a fantastic partner and their volunteers really boosted the learning experience.” Aqrabawi added.

Taking students’ knowledge of marketing to the next level, Deloitte volunteers worked with the top ten nominees to re-produce their videos in a bid to make their campaigns more effective and appealing to their target audience. “Sequence”, a student company from INJAZ Bahrain, won the top accolade for “Best Student Video”.

As a prize the students will now go on to receive further mentorship from Deloitte in addition to being enrolled on a professional online course on social media marketing by Udemy.  

Commenting on the learning experience, INJAZ student Amine Dahmani said: “The Deloitte competition was an amazing experience and an incredible opportunity. It helped me and my colleagues develop our skills in leadership, entrepreneurship and communication.” 

“In order for youth to obtain vital work readiness skills it is essential for private sector companies to participate in their development and learning,” added Rana Ghandour Salhab, Talent and Communications partner at Deloitte Middle East.  “This program has been highly successful and we are thrilled with the feedback from all participants. In addition, the videos submitted were often highly creative, highlighting the boundless potential of Arab youth. As an on-going partner of INJAZ Al-Arab we look forward to furthering our investment in building the skills of future young professionals. We are committed to working on social innovation initiatives that make a sustainable impact in our communities.”