Qatar Airways’ Al Darb Nationalisation Programme and the Hamad International Airport (HIA) have partnered with the Bedaya Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (Bedaya Centre) to showcase local entrepreneurial talent and products at the HIA. The exhibition, opened this week, is located at the HIA’s arrival terminal.
This joint effort aims to support young Qatari entrepreneurs by showcasing their ideas and plans and transform them into products like clothing, accessories, traditional perfumes, homeware, and other items reflecting traditional aspects of the Qatari culture.
Products will be displayed during the exhibition period, and passengers at the airport’s Gate 4 of the arrivals terminal will have the opportunity to explore the unique, 100% Qatari-designed collections.
Fatma al-Sulaiti, owner and founder of Kafee, a 100% Qatari chocolatier, said: “The idea of our project is to create the first luxury Qatari chocolate brand. We started in 2011 as exhibitors and now we have our own store and three chocolate manufacturing workshops. Soon we will launch our second store and first chocolate factory in Qatar. We would like to thank everyone who keeps on supporting us.”
Exhibitors will use the unique marketing channel provided by the airport display space to further develop their businesses. Thousands of passengers travelling through HIA daily will create the opportunity to receive feedback directly from the public.
Qatar Airways senior vice-president of Human Resources Nabeela Fakhri, said: “Qatar Airways is proud to support such initiatives to support the development of Qataris, not just in Qatar Airways, but also elsewhere and to be an active contributor of the development of the country in tandem with the Qatar 2030 Vision.”    
Badr al-Meer, chief operating officer at HIA, said: “Hamad International Airport is happy to be given the opportunity to host Bedaya Centre’s exhibition and play a role in developing budding Qatari entrepreneurs. HIA is the gateway to Qatar and the rest of the world, and this exhibition provides us with yet another avenue to showcase Qatar’s culture, creativity, and talent to our passengers from around the world.”
Bedaya is an entrepreneurial and career development centre that assists all Qatari nationals who wish to start their own business through many different initiatives.
Bedaya Centre general manager Reem al-Suwaidi said: “We are excited to have such exhibition at Hamad International Airport where the products that are made by our talented entrepreneurs will have a huge exposure to thousands of passengers arriving to Doha from all over the world. It will also be a wonderful experience for passengers to have a taste of the Qatari culture as soon as they land in Doha.”   
Currently, Qatar Airways’ Al Darb Nationalisation Programme supports more than 30 majors and provides nine different training programmes across a range of career choices within the award winning airline.
Recently the airline welcomed more than 200 new joiners to its training programmes, including engineers, cadet pilots, graduate developees, sponsored students, and direct hires.