Saudi national, Basma Sabban, a third-year student from Dar Al Hekma College in Jeddah and Meshal Sami Al-Ali a senior from the American University of Kuwait will join the first ever DSS Apprentice Program on an all-expenses-paid summer internship to Dubai. Earlier this year, the pioneering internship program was launched under the directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai with the aim to share knowledge and involve a greater number of people from the region across a wide spectrum of activities.
The apprenticeship program will provide these students with an excellent opportunity for training and exposure in marketing and events management through an internship at the Dubai Summer Surprises. They will get a chance to be involved closely with a real event that has proved to be a benchmark for other events in the region. The students chosen for this program will get varied and diverse experience in several fields and a chance to learn under the guidance of experienced personnel.
This year’s pilot DSS Apprentice Program was rolled out into KSA and Kuwait and was offered to students from the American University of Kuwait, Kuwait University and Dar Al Hekma College. In the future it hopes to reach out to students across the GCC. Basma and five other students were nominated by the Director of the Business Department at Dar Al Hekma after a distinguished panel of judges evaluated their applications based on character, academic excellence and the quality and originality of their qualifying essays.
In her winning piece, Basma wrote, “If I were to be taking the role of Senior Marketing Officer for Dubai Summer Surprises, my main responsibilities would be to effectively promote the festival by assigning representatives in the GCC which will help in promoting the festival locally as well as introduce a new character which accompanies Modhesh on his exciting mission.”
Said Meshal Al-Ali, a senior Business Administration student at the American University of Kuwait. “I am very pleased to have been chosen as the official Kuwaiti Apprentice for this year. Since this programme is in its first year, it will be a challenge for me to set an example for those who might be chosen after me. I am confident that with previous experience as well as my strong communication skills I will be able to add value to this year’s summer fiesta,” Meshal and five other students were nominated by the Head of Business Department & Head of PR Department at the American University of Kuwait while a distinguished panel of judges then evaluated the candidates based on academic excellence, quality and originality of submitted essays, and character to finally select the student to become the official DSS Kuwait Apprentice.
In his essay, Meshal wrote, “Dubai Summer Surprises was found mainly to get the family together and my main target, if I were given the role of Senior Marketing Officer for DSS will be to ensure that this was done to the maximum and I would also like to build on themed weeks including Technology, GCC, and Music Surprises that would appeal more and more to college students.”
Meshal is considered by his mentors and peers as an excellent student leader and great academic achiever. He has been the student president at AUK for the past two years and has assisted in establishing many sub-committees including the media, culture, social, and public relations. He is extremely enthusiastic and hardworking and we have no doubt that he will perform well in the responsibilities given to him during the DSS Apprentice hoping that he will make the most out of this internship by learning as much as he can from accomplished and highly respected marketing practitioners,” said Joanne Hands, Career Counsellor, at the American University of Kuwait.
“We congratulate Basma and Meshal on their selection as the DSS apprentice from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. We look forward to welcoming them in Dubai, and hope the interns will learn from this experience and broaden their perspectives in marketing and events management,” said Laila Suhail, DSS Executive Project Director.
Commenting on the program's potential impact on DSS, Laila Suhail said, "This is also a great opportunity for us to learn how we can better customize our marketing efforts and communications to enhance the appeal of DSS to tourists from the region. We have so far done an excellent job; now we just need to raise the level of our strategy to ensure the continuing success of the program."
Dr. Amani Mohammad, Director of the Business Program at Dar Al Hekma College commented: "We would like to commend the DSS Organizing Committee for establishing this noteworthy apprenticeship program, which will give these students experience and exposure to hone their skills and sharpen their perspectives. The knowledge and the insights gained from interacting with industry practitioners in Dubai are something that they can look back to for inspiration when they eventually join the industry either as professionals or entrepreneurs."
The selected interns will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai and first-class accommodation at the recently launched five star luxury hotel Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, which offers a complete leisure experience with world-class shopping and an unrivalled Alpine experience, featuring the world's third largest indoor ski resort and the biggest covered snow park. All students will be allotted projects which will help them demonstrate their skills and abilities in making the summer event exciting for tourists from around the region.
The 10-week long DSS, which opens with the Ice Surprises week on June 21, will continue with the weekly themes, including International Food Surprises, Adventure Surprises, Cartoon Surprises, Nature Surprises, Arts Surprises, Knowledge Surprises, Flower Surprises, Heritage Surprises, and concludes with Back-to-School Surprises on September 1.
