SEDCO’s financial literacy program wins London award

The award was presented at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel in London.

SEDCO Holding’s Rowad Riyali, an Arabic financial literacy program for entrepreneurs, has won the Learning Technologies Award for Best Learning Technologies Project — Public and Non-Profit Sector, presented at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel in London.
The Learning Technologies Awards showcase some of the most recognizable, memorable and life-changing e-learning projects worldwide and are internationally recognized. The finalists were selected by an independent judging panel of experts organized by the eLearning Network. More than 400 entries from 22 categories were whittled down to produce a 185-strong shortlist showcasing learning technologies, out of which Rowad Riyali emerged as one of the winners.
SEDCO Holding CEO Hasan Al-Jabri said: “Rowad Riyali for entrepreneurs is an extension of our hugely successful Riyali program that addresses the need to educate the Saudi population on financial literacy and empower people with personal financial skills required to achieve a prosperous life. The program aims to empower entrepreneurs with the financial management skills and knowledge needed to be able to run and manage their businesses effectively and successfully.”
One of the many CSR programs funded by the company, the Rowad program was developed for SEDCO by Beirut-based Kashida, a team of passionate education professionals with many years of experience as content developers in educational technology. “Kashida’s vision is to give everyone the opportunity to learn, simply, and from this starting point, we design bespoke learning experiences that serve the best interests of the learners first, making learning engaging and accessible. SEDCO was the perfect partner for us because they not only support our vision, but have actually made it a reality with their Riyali platform,” Raneem Mourad, managing partner at Kashida, said.
Kashida based the program on an approach that ensures knowledge retention and provides practical methods for financial management within the entrepreneurial journey, including applied tools and simulations. Utilizing real-life successful entrepreneurs to present the content, the resulting solution was delivered in a self-paced format on the Riyali platform and a blended format in collaboration with startup incubators across Saudi Arabia.
Riyali was launched in 2012 and aims to familiarize members of the community with financial planning and management in order to meet their personal financial responsibilities, focusing on financial concepts such as planning, budgeting, saving, investing and borrowing in order to empower them with the personal financial skills required to achieve a desirable standard of living. 
Riyali aims to raise awareness and amplify positive change in youth behavior toward personal financial planning and responsibility. The program is delivered online on multiple e-education platforms in addition to Riyali.com. More than 8,300 beneficiaries have been enrolled in the Rowad Riyali program to date.
With more than 430,000 beneficiaries from Riyali’s Ashbal, Shabab and Rowad programs, Riyali aims to reach 2 million students and entrepreneurs across the Kingdom by 2020.