Dubai: The Young Arab Leaders (YAL), is a pan-Arab organisation that hopes to help Arabs understand each other and the rest of the world, as well as provide them with work opportunities to prepare them to enter the global workforce and make a positive change in their societies.

Gulf News spoke to Assem Kabesh, the CEO of Young Arab Leaders, about the organisation, its aims and initiatives.

Gulf News: What is YAL?

Assem Kabesh: It's an initiative that His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, came up with in 2004. It was launched in Davos and he managed to get three boards of trustees with King Abdullah of Jordan, and Shaikh Salman, the Crown Prince of Bahrain.

YAL is a pan-Arab organisation. The idea behind launching it was so we could improve the status of youths across the Arab world.

Being a pan-Arab organisation, we have chapters in different countries. Each chapter has a chairman, a vice-chairman, treasurer and a secretary. The organisation works through the management office as a resource. We use it as a tool to implement our programmes.

Who are your members and why do they join?

They pay us money to become part of the organisation; $3,000 a year. These are established people in their own communities, They are CEOs, chairmen, managing directors.

Why do they join? These are people who have achieved something in their lives and are dedicated to giving something back to their communities.

Until a few years ago you'd hear people say I can't change the world, and responsibility was thrown at governments to change the status quo. The good thing is that now people feel that they themselves can make a difference and these are exactly the kind of members we try to target in the organisation.

The members open doors for us. They are usually well connected within their communities. These are the members who help us help the beneficiaries of YAL. They provide us with internship programmes in their organisations or within their networks.

Who are YAL's beneficiaries and how do they benefit from YAL?

We identify top students or young professionals irrespective of gender, religion and social background. We don't just go to [private universities], but also to the governmental universities. We have interviews with them and require them to write essays.

In one of the programmes we send the students abroad for internships for up to three months, to [car manufacturer] Daimler, for example. This way, you're allowing them to see how the world runs. Most of them have not even travelled out of their countries. They have never dealt with foreigners on a personal basis.

At the same time, they become your ambassadors as Arabs. They are young and dynamic. People [in the West] see in them a completely different perception than what they see on television.

Has YAL been modelled on another organisation?

We looked at a lot of different models but we found most were networking organisations. We're not a networking organisation. Not primarily. Networking comes by default through our forums and meetings and they can do business with one another and open doors for each other and that's great.

But we are a development organisation. We're there for the youth and attract people who are willing to give time, money, effort or whatever they can to help.

We don't want any political affiliation. We're there to help people and being non-political makes it much easier for us.

You've spoken about bridge building between Arabs and the rest of the world. How important is that for the organisation?

We're trying to build bridges on the map and also trying to make sure we are working on the house itself. We're trying to build bridges between Arab countries too, not just with the West. It's no secret that between us as Arabs we need to build bridges as well.

At an internship programme in Singapore last year, I told the interns they were there first as ambassadors for their own countries and ambassadors for the Arab world, but also they were there to build bridges with one another. Some of the youth had never dealt with anyone but their own nationality yet they found it easier to deal with a Singaporean, American or a German than to deal with a Syrian or Egyptian for example. It's funny but sad. But you should see them at the end of the programmes. Some of them have become best friends.



When YAL first started it was said the organisation would work to re-instill Arab pride among youth in the region. How important is that to YAL?

It is important. We often think young people are trying to imitate the West but they have a very strong identity and are very proud of their [local] national identities and the Arab identity as well. I never thought this would be the case.

YAL has been functioning for a couple of years now yet we don't know much about it. It has had a perception of exclusivity. Why is that?

We've been labelled many times as a rich boy's club. But we are not. Yes the organisation is made up of members who are professionals and people who are well-established. They could be rich or not. But it is very important that this happens because these are the people that will help us achieve our goals.

You have started a fundraising campaign for Gaza. Tell us about that.

We have a fund we've created with the Bring Gaza Back campaign which is associated with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). We will also go back to the people who've donated money and give them a full briefing on where the money went.