UTAS-Sur students launch awareness campaign on self-employment

SUR: The public relations students at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Sur, have launched’ Khatwa’ (step), a public awareness campaign on self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The dean of the university, Dr Salma al Musharaffi, officially launched the campaign in an online event. The online campaign aims to spread awareness on self-employment among the Omani youth with focus on the scope, avenues, and legal procedures for seeking self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Inaugurating the campaign, Dr Salma said, “There is a qualitative shift in the current economy, the job market is becoming very competitive, and I see this campaign is very ambitious and timely.” “I hope the objectives of the campaign will inspire and motivate the Omani youth to consider self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities”, she added. The campaign logo was revealed through a video on the occasion. The campaign’s main strategies include social media promotions of the key messages, dissemination of testimonials of young entrepreneurs, and webinar sessions by experts about online business opportunities and freelance jobs. The initiation and organisation of the online event show that the pandemic has not hindered public relations students’ competence and motivation to engage in creative learning experiences. Guests and sponsors attended the launch event and expressed their admiration for this great idea of the campaign which may help many sections of society. One of the sponsors, Samia al Jabriya, said: “As an independent woman, I have experience in entrepreneurship, I think that this campaign will have a significant positive impact on society. And we badly need such awareness campaigns”. Sara al Alawi, a PR student and organiser of the campaign, said, “This campaign allows us to practise the practical skills of the course in the real-life situation and at the same time it is going to provide the opportunity for students to invest their time and effort in the community development.