Reyada Award winners of 2013 along with Qatar Museums Authority chairperson HE Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari, and SDC officials.
The Social Development Centre (SDC), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, has announced that the SDC Awards ceremony – a joint occasion to reward participants of Reyada and Volunteer Awards – will be held once in two years hereafter to provide a greater time span for innovation and development.
Over the years, the Reyada and Volunteer Awards received great responses from the Qatari society. Large institutions and organisations in Doha were keen at supporting these awards and recognising their goals.
SDC executive director Amal al-Mannai said: “The next edition of the Reyada and Volunteer awards will be held in 2015. It is an important step for the development of aspirations of Qatari society. We are looking into more ways of identifying strong candidates, as we have this year, SDC and I am grateful to our partners for their continual support in making this happen.”
Nominations for the Volunteer Awards are divided across five different categories covering individuals, enterprises, and institutions, as well as academic research and projects. Launched last year, the Reyada Awards are divided into three different categories of the New Venture Challenge Award, Entrepreneur Achiever Award and Outstanding Entrepreneurial Support Award, with each award featuring gold and silver honours.
Founded on the principles of hard work and innovation, the Reyada Award fits in well within the support system that SDC already provides to entrepreneurs in Qatar.
SDC’s commitment to entrepreneurship goes back to 2003, when it first launched the Rasameel fund for entrepreneurial ventures.
In 2007, SDC launched Tanmia, a programme designed to promote self-employment by providing support services to existing national small and medium enterprises and potential entrepreneurs to start viable small businesses. Further, SDC also supports home-based entrepreneurs with its Badr – Wa Inta Kadr programme.
SDC’s main objective is to promote the role of the family unit in society, as well as maintaining its social and economic cohesion and stability. It also works actively to train and enable keen individuals to be successful in the career opportunities they choose to pursue. Through its various collaborative activities with its partners, SDC aims to raise awareness about specialized training and personal development, preparing society to face the challenges and changes that affect its components and values.