Dubai, 5th of December 2011-Before the official opening of FIKR10- the Arab Thought Foundation held a special session at 9:00 am on the 5th of December 2011 in Jumeirah Zabeel, bringing together young participants from all walks of life to share their personal and exceptional experiences, proving the Arabs ability to achieve the greatest.

The moderator of the session, Maher Kaddoura, a Social Entrepreneur and activist from the  Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He introduced the first speaker Mr. Abdul Aziz Tarabzoni, Consultant at McLarty Associates and first Saudi Youth Ambassador to the United Nations – KSA, who despite all difficulties managed to gather more than SAR 1 million and started a technical innovation project for the community.
"You need to make a decision and have the will to fulfill it, victory is always followed by defeat, but the Arab Spring will be followed by further and further successes & victories" he concluded
2nd speaker:

Mohammed S. Al-Lai CEO, Al-Amal Microfinance Bank – Yemen. Mr. Al-Lai founded the first bank in Yemen that meets the needs of the poor. He believes that poor people have the right to have a better lifestyle and the right to benefit from all services a bank can provide. The bank is financing 35ooo projects and it is creating jobs for the new fresh graduates as well. His project is to "build the bridge between young people, who are the most vulnerable category of the Yemeni community and the decision makers"

3rd speaker: Mr. Abdul Mohsen AlAjmi - CEO of wasmlabs.com, Founder of Reyadah.com – Kuwait- Mr. AlAjmi highlighted that some people are trying to individually launch community work and others calling for volunteers for community projects. In order to bring the two parties together and facilitate communication between them, he developed a software that allows the recruitment of volunteers and that shares their profiles online. NGOs can now look through these  lists and allocate volunteers based on their skills and experience.

Mr. AlAjmi concluded that "One small idea may change the world, be crazy like us and dream to change the world"

4th Speaker:

Mr. Mohammed AlRaffei-Founder & CEO at CORD – EGYPT stated that he was an introvert person in 2002, but with time he developed in himself the skill to reach out to the outer world and serve the community. He highlighted that in 2011 Dreams came true even when we didn't dream of them.  For a human being to worth living, he needs to learn, do, teach others and set goals on daily basis.

Mr. AlRaffei said "…the  Arab nation has a great heritage and it has to be revived".

5th Speaker:
Mr. Alaa Wardeh– Iran and KSA- Musician performed different musical pieces, but the most impressive piece was the one he performed while only using his voice.

6th Speaker
Nabil AlLabassi - Lawyer & Human Rights Activist – Tunis
Mr. AlLabassi confirmed that systems collapse due to corruption. The elite has to be aware of their people’s mentality to plan useful developmental projects in the future, regardless if their people are passive or not. Changes can’t be exported; they are built on each society's values. New capacities were born after the revolution. People who yearn for development must create their own ways. None of the countries can reproduce a revolution that took place in another place or in a different era. And no changes can take place if we are still attached to old, dictatorial values. He confirmed that social media played great role in changing concepts.

7th Speaker:
Mr. Mostapha Salameh- Motivational Speaker and Outdoor Expedition consultant – Jordan

Mr. Salameh had a dream of climbing the Everest peak. When he decided to follow his dream most discouraged him and few supported him. He took his chances and despite all challenges he succeeded in climbing six out of the 7 peaks of the world and Mount Everest too.
 
Mr. Salameh left the audience on an inspiring note "Everyone has an Everest to climb in his life, could be career, a family challenge or anything else."

8th Speaker:
Mr. Mohammad Al-Shami - Project Manager with Resonate! Yemen Foundation – Yemen. He insisted on the role of the Arab youth. They should to take part in the decision making, participatory procedures, sense of dialogue etc. This is the culture they try to use to empower youth.

9th Speaker:

Mr. Bassam Jalgha-Engineer & Entrepreneur – Lebanon

Mr. Jalgha criticized the fact that Arabs value foreign products more than Arab ones. He wondered if the foreign policy is preventing us from being innovative. He believed that there should be support for Arab innovations in all fields. He wanted to invent a tool to be able to tune all cord instruments and so he did. At the age of 24, his wish was to see all musicians using this tuner. For him, what is motivating is having an idea coming to life.

10th Speaker
Ms. Sabreen Taha
Journalist, TV reporter, and editor – Palestine-She decided to be a journalist but there was always something or someone to shut her down. She discovered how her concepts are being defamed and decided to deeply think about her identity as a Palestinian. After a profound reflection, she better understood her Identity and hence respected it more. "Now I'm Arab, and sky is my limit", she concluded.

In conclusion "FIKR wa AFKAR" session represented a free platform for those speakers to naturally express themselves, bringing up personal stories to share with the audience. The new innovative projects and ideas in addition to the exceptional experiences we heard will bring great impact to the Arab Society and inspire the people to achieve their best.