Yara El-Zahaby to represent Egypt in DSS Apprenticeship Programme 2011

With the biggest summer event in the region set to take off in less than a week, the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED) and organisers of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), announced the winners of the DSS Apprenticeship Programme 2011.

The hotly contested programme, which targets students from across the Middle East and North Africa, is a unique internship opportunity which brings together the best and brightest Arab youth to experience working on the regions biggest summer tourism extravaganza. Participating countries this year include the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, KSA, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and, for the first time, Palestine.

Yara El-Zahaby, a 3^rd year student at the American University in Cairo was chosen by a jury comprising of key DSS representatives to represent Egypt in the 6th edition of the highly coveted DSS Apprenticeship Programme.

Laila Suhail, CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE) said: “Yara’s positive ideas and interesting spin on education made her the perfect selection amongst the candidates from Egypt. We anticipate great ideas from her and hope she makes the most from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with the best and most experienced team.”

The DSS Apprenticeship Programme has grown tremendously since its inception in 2006 when the programme included four participating universities from two countries. This year, 55 universities from across 11 markets in the Middle East and North Africa were invited to nominate candidates to undergo a highly competitive selection process to earn one of the coveted slots in the 2011 Programme.

The selection process began with universities and colleges nominating six of their brightest senior students whose credentials are reviewed, along with the contents of an essay the students are asked to submit. In this year’s essay, students were requested to share their ideas on how they would promote DSS in their local markets if they served in the position of Chief Marketing Officer for the summer extravaganza. A special jury comprising key DSS staff and other marketing professionals evaluated the submitted applications and selected the winning apprentice for each country based on the quality of the essays, completion of required documents, as well as the student’s expressed character, ambition, energy, and potential to make a valuable contribution to the continual enhancement of DSS.

In her winning essay Yara said: “I would be targeting the youth, specifically the age group of 17 to 25 year-olds and have them explore different aspects of life through events which aim to attract and educate this age group of highly trendy influencers.”

Dr. Stephen Everhart, Associate Dean of the School of Business at the American University in Cairo said: “Over the past five years we observed that the DSS Apprenticeship Programme helps students realize their full potential by allowing them to work hand in hand with the region’s leading industry experts. We are extremely pleased that another one of our students is honoured with this opportunity and are sure that Yara will learn a great deal, and gain remarkable hands-on experience.”

The internship was set up to give winners the opportunity to build valuable corporate skills and gain exposure to best practices in business administration, marketing and events management by training alongside the talented experts who are responsible for putting together DSS over the last 13 years. The students will get hands-on experience working on preparations leading up to the launch of DSS as well as visiting and auditing key events during the festival period. As in previous years, the DSS Apprenticeship Programme also presents winners with a unique and valuable opportunity to establish a great network of potential future employers and corporate mentors.

The apprenticeship includes an all expense paid trip to Dubai and will be hosted at Southern Sun Qamardeen Hotel, conveniently situated in the Downtown Dubai district, home to the student apprentices for the fifth consecutive year. 

After the intensive two-week internship, the apprentices will present their fresh and creative findings and ideas to DSS senior management in the presence of other key officials who are among the stakeholders of the Dubai Events & Promotions Establishment. They are also encouraged to share insights from first-hand observation of this year’s event, with the aim of possibly incorporating these ideas in future DSS editions. Many of the recommendations of winners from previous editions of the DSS Apprenticeship Programme have been successfully applied while planning forthcoming editions of DSS.