BrazilOliver Wyman partners with youth network INJAZ in the Emirates
The global management consultants Oliver Wyman will be teaming up with the Emirates branch of youth economic development agency INJAZ to help drive the non-profit’s local strategic agenda.
With a proud history of pro bono partnerships under its belt for social impact programmes across the world, such as for projects with World Vision and the Red Cross, the global management consulting leader Oliver Wyman will now apply its organisational expertise for the benefit of Emirati youth by joining together with the local chapter of vocational development agency INJAZ.
INJAZ UAE, which is a member branch of the regionally based INJAZ Al-Arab, founded by the late education advocate Soraya Salti in Jordan – with INJAZ Al-Arab in turn under the Junior Achievement Worldwide umbrella – works to support entrepreneurship, financial literacy and workplace readiness in an effort to boost the professional prospects for young Emirati citizens, with INJAZ Al-Arab’s range of programmes having reached 300,000 students in the broader region during 2016 to 2017.
For the UAE branch, the aim is to impact 30,000 students by 2022, from just over 5,000 to date, with the consulting firm brought on board to help achieve this ambition – almost literally in the case of Oliver Wyman Partner Greg Rung, who has joined the INJAZ UAE board to provide it with strategic guidance and advice on the building of partner relations.
With 20 years of experience and over 200 projects managed (with a focus on the banking and asset management sectors and expertise in emerging markets), Rung provides the non-profit organisation with a deep well of operations and management knowledge, and will help Oliver Wyman and INJAZ UAE drive change through a set of 15 strategic initiatives.
“This collaboration comes at a time where regional governments and private companies are offering increasing support to their youth through dedicated programmes and strategic visions of empowering them. Youth employment and expansion of the private sector in the GCC are two drivers towards a healthy, diversified economy,” Rung said of the INJAZ UAE partnership.
Previously, Rung has worked with the Junior Achievement arm in Africa (JAA), among an Oliver Wyman team which developed a five year strategy and implementation plan for the 14 sub-Saharan countries served by the local NGO, with the team first examining both the key data and youth unemployment trends in the region as well as JAA’s operational efficiencies, potential partnership prospects, and the external market factors.
For the latest project, INJAZ UAE’s chairman Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nahyan – a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family – said; “We are delighted to partner with Oliver Wyman, as we look to support the UAE vision of youth empowerment through our world-class initiatives where our programmes help spark learning in the youth to experience the opportunities and realities of the global professional network in the world that we live in today.”
A 2016 report from Oliver Wyman on social and environmental sustainability in the GCC, authored by Rung, stressed the importance of the region’s private and non-profit sectors in addressing the rising challenges, describing their contribution as a social imperative. Globally, Oliver Wyman’s charitable arm last year more than doubled its involvement in social projects, both in hours volunteered and the number of the firm’s participants – raising, in addition, over $600,000 for various causes through charitable auctions.
