Ooredoo’s “efforts to enrich the lives of people” have earned the company 14 record-breaking awards during the 2014 International Business Awards, otherwise known as the “Stevie Awards.”
Over the past year, Ooredoo supported a range of projects aimed at boosting youth employment opportunities, educational options, and entrepreneurial ambitions across its markets in the Mena region and Southeast Asia. A number of these projects were recognised at the Stevie Awards ceremony held in Paris last week.
Ooredoo’s pioneering research “New Horizons: Young, Arab, and Connected” won two Gold Stevie Awards. The project provided a solid foundation for Ooredoo’s research, which was launched in 2014.
With a survey involving more than 10,500 young adults in 17 countries across the region, “New Horizons” was one of the most in-depth research projects about youth aspirations in the Arab world, conducted during a period of “intense economic, social, and political change.”
“New Horizons” received the Gold Stevie Award for “Communications Campaign of Year” and a second Gold Award for its innovative website, which shared the findings online with a global audience.
Ooredoo also won three Silver Stevie Awards for its outreach work, including awards for its global network of mobile health clinics targeting underserved communities in Asia; for supporting motivational videos targeting Myanmar and Indonesia; and for its “Play for Dreams” online campaign, which used its relationship with brand ambassador Leo Messi to inspire young people to get involved in sports and pursue their ambitions.
In addition to the Gold and Silver Awards, Ooredoo also received a total of nine Bronze Stevie Awards, including awards for Ooredoo’s Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani for “Chairman of the Year,” Dr Nasser Marafih for “Executive of the Year – Telecommunications,” “Telecommunications Company of the Year” for Ooredoo Group, and “Best Annual Report.”
There were also Bronze Awards for Ooredoo Algeria’s “tStart” and “iStart” programmes, designed to support start-ups, training, and mobile app development in North Africa.
Ooredoo was also presented with the “Best of the International Business Awards” prize. Ranked at number seven, Ooredoo won the “Grand Stevie Award,” which was determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won. Ooredoo was the only Middle East-based telecommunication company to receive this recognition.
Ooredoo Group CEO Dr Nasser Marafih said, “These awards demonstrate the incredible range of initiatives developed and sustained by our company since the launch of the Ooredoo brand last year, which has helped empower people across our markets.”
He added, “Ooredoo is focused on human growth in all our activities and to be nominated for so many awards in a global competition demonstrates that we are successfully turning our vision for enriching lives into a reality.”
The number of awards earned by the company demonstrates again the impact of Ooredoo’s new brand and approach to communications. The company has rolled-out the Ooredoo brand in Qatar, Algeria, Maldives, Tunisia, Kuwait, and Myanmar – its newest market since the global launch in February 2013.
The International Business Awards was created to honour the positive contributions of organisations worldwide.
