Award-winning Kuwaiti Promotes Youth Innovation in Technology
Washington - If there is an international event for enhancing youth participation in information technology development, it is likely that Kuwait's Manar Al-Hashash will be there.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Washington — If there is an international event for enhancing youth participation in information technology development, it is likely that Kuwait’s Manar Al-Hashash will be there.
In March, the Kuwaiti-educated information technology entrepreneur visited the United Nations to participate in the U.N. Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development ( GAID ) meeting series.
“The U.N. invited us to this meeting to place a comprehensive plan for how technology could be used to achieve the Millennium Goals in general, and especially for youth, and to present it to the member states so that it can be endorsed in the General Assembly’s next session,” Al-Hashash told the Kuwaiti News Agency ( KUNA ).
The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals are eight objectives ranging from reducing extreme poverty and hunger to achieving gender equality and environmental sustainability to combating diseases like AIDS.
Al-Hashash is a trailblazer. In 2006, she was the only woman selected from the Arab world for membership in the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society, a role she continues as a grand jury member of the World Summit Award board. Al-Hashash is also a member of GAID’s panel of advisers and a part of the Bahrain-based Arab eContent Award organization that recognizes achievement in electronic information products. And in 2008, Microsoft chose her as one of the judges for its Imagine Cup, the world’s premier student technology competition.
“The Imagine Cup creates a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm — not to mention remarkable ideas from students who are working towards a career in computer science, information technology and the digital arts,” she said in a 2008 Microsoft press release. “We are pleased to be associated with this year’s Imagine Cup to help foster innovation.”
Back home in Kuwait, Al-Hashash is known as one of the country’s premier information technology entrepreneurs. Her list of business start-up achievements includes Dot Design, a software development company she co-founded and continues as its general manager. She is the founder and publisher of Dot, an information technology magazine with a focus on Kuwait.
In 2004, Al-Hashash launched the Ghiras Electro Contest, a Web design competition for Kuwaiti youth aged 14–22. The annual contest distributes awards in four categories: best website design, best presentation, best graphic design and best mobile e-greeting card. All awards focus on local content.
Al-Hashash has been invited by the Obama administration to Washington for the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in recognition of her many achievements. One of three Kuwaitis invited to attend the entrepreneurs’ summit, Al-Hashash expressed pride during her KUNA interview for being selected to represent her country. The news agency reported she was selected on the basis of a U.S. Embassy report that praised her “tremendous efforts for the promotion of the electronic culture through her participation in volunteer works.”
Educating the Kuwaiti public about technology issues through the media is another of Al-Hashash’s hallmarks. In addition to Dot magazine, Al-Hashash writes columns about information technology for Kuwait’s Al-Watan newspaper. Beyond print, she makes regular appearances on Kuwaiti television to discuss technology issues through Compunet World, which is broadcast in Arabic, and Zero Ones, broadcast in English.
( This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov )
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