BRJ receives entrepreneurship award

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, presented an award to Bab Rizq Jameel as the "Best Initiative to Support Entrepreneurship in the Arab World" at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Dubai Wednesday, recognizing its achievement in job creation across the Middle East.
Described as a business with a social purpose, Bab Rizq Jameel (BRJ) was established in 2003 by Mohammed Jameel, president of the ALJ Group, to help generate more employment opportunities, initially in Saudi Arabia.
Operating at the local level, BRJ’s main activities focus on identifying job opportunities, providing relevant skills and training to individual job seekers and granting microfinance loans to establish new entrepreneurial businesses.
Since establishment, it has expanded across the region through an extensive branch network, successfully helping to create over 320,000 jobs across the region — 100,000 of them in this year alone.
Accepting the award on behalf of BRJ, Jameel, chief job creating officer for BRJ MENA, said: “BRJ is one simple, grassroots solution to the problem of unemployment that has, from small beginnings, begun to make a significant difference to the lives of thousands across the region. Ultimately, it is creating a business model that empowers people, giving them control over their lives and a stake in their future.
“This recognition is an honor and a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved with BRJ and I am delighted to accept it on their behalf. I hope in time that we will see competitors emerge in the business of job creation. More competitors mean more jobs and the region needs more employment opportunities as populations continue to grow.”
Today there is a team of more than 700 fulltime job creators working from more than 36 BRJ branches in the Arab world and Turkey. The ultimate plan is to help create 500,000 jobs annually in the Arab countries and Turkey through a team of 2,000 job creators distributed amongst 200 branches in those countries.