The Forum aims to bring local and international organizations/companies, policymakers, government officials, entrepreneurs, experts, investors, VCs, businesspeople, CEOs of top corporations together to discuss how to strengthen the startup ecosystem in Azerbaijan, Eurasia and in all OIC Region and how to develop a new vision to support youth entrepreneurship. 

The two-day Forum will contain a series of fairs, panels, cultural events, exhibitions, networking sessions, round table discussions and workshops. The panel discussions will be based on the startup investment, youth entrepreneurship and development of the startup ecosystem.  

Startups will be selected from the following verticals:  

• Food & Agri-Tech 
• Green Industry 
• Fintech 
• Games and Applications 
• Environment & Renewable Energy 

• Smart Tech 
• Aviation & Space Tech 
• Logistic & Smart City 
• Robotics and AI 

In the context of the Forum, leading innovative international startups and SMEs will showcase their innovations for two days for high-level participants and will present their pitch decks to the global investors.  

Closed roundtable discussions are also planned with local & international investors, government officials and representatives of the youth focusing on economic empowerment of the youth in Eurasia, in OIC region and beyond for reaching sustainable development.  

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 

• Azerbaijan Investment and Youth Entrepreneurship Forum application is open to startups of the OIC Member States and Muslim minorities in Non-OIC Countries. 
• Aged between 18-35 

• Ability to communicate in English 

*Visa support, travel expenses, accommodation, and meals will be provided by the Organizing Committee 

 Important! Only selected participants will be informed. 

Deadline: October 25,2022

Apply Now: https://icyfdigital.com/EventF2/37

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The International Incubation Center produces quality and competitive entrepreneurs by using innovative global trends to adapt them to the digital age. The center focuses on enhancing youth empowerment, innovation, training, startup and entrepreneurial opportunities, and engagement in startup ecosystem building in OIC and beyond. IIC offers innovative solutions, distinguishing start-ups with two different programs as Pre-Incubation and Incubation.

Calls are made twice a year for training programs lasting 6 months. During this period, successful entrepreneurs will be provided with training and these training sessions will be supported by relevant events and summits. While entrepreneurs can benefit from International Incubation Center’s technological infrastructure and laboratories, they will also access the wide global network.

The services offered are:

• Fully enabled dedicated office space
• Workshops and training
• Consultancy services
• Mentorship and coaching
• Global networking
• International programs and the opportunity to attend investment summits
• Global funding and industry access

International Incubation Center will provide the start-ups with the opportunity to open up to the global market in the following verticals.

• Fintech
• Micro Mobility
• Sportstech
• Remote Working
• Games & Applications
• Robotic Delivery
• Cloudtech & DevOps
• Aggrotech
• Cybersecurity
• Edtech
• Big Data
• Smart Cities
• Spacetech
• Healthtech
• E-commerce
• Mobility Tech
• Nanotech
• Foodtech
• Insurtech
• Climate Tech
• Food Delivery
• Software as a service (SaaS)
• Biotech
• Smart Logistics
• Internet of Things (IoT)

Eligibility Criteria

• Entrepreneurs/Startups may be an individual or groups of individuals working towards the development of innovative products/ processes/ services and must have a scalable business model with a high potential for employment generation or wealth creation.
• Product/service can be developed or at the prototype stage (past ideation stage).
• The developed technology should be innovative and/or address existing market needs.
• Applicants clearly demonstrate business case, value proposition, and competitive advantage.
• Applicants should be self-driven, resilient, committed, and coachable.

Who Can Apply?

• Entrepreneurs/Startups who live in OIC countries will be the priority of the International Incubation Center (IIC) applicants.
• Applicants must obtain a minimum of six months of valid residence permit in Türkiye.
• Application is open to those between the ages of 18-35.
• Applicants cannot be members of more than one incubation center. Applications of those who have a membership in another incubation center will be rejected.

Important! Only selected participants will be informed.

This call ends on the 10th of July 2022 and invites all OIC youth to grab this opportunity.

For more information; incubation@icyforum.org

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Recent studies have reported that there are three basic required skills for sustainable development in African countries, including communication and learning skills, numeracy, literacy and other cognitive skills. Research shows that young people in African countries need to develop social and citizenship skills, the ability to cooperate with others and technical and workplace skills including soft skills, individual development skills and ability to contribute to Pan–African identity.  

Vocational education and training are essentially important as they provide core applied learning; that is with acquisition of knowledge, skills, values and ethics appropriate for the workplace thus leading to increased opportunities for productive work, sustainable livelihoods, personal empowerment and socio-economic development.  

However, there is a vital link between vocational education (VE) and global labor market. Studies reported that majority of youth in Africa are viewed either unemployed, low-paid or with precarious jobs, especially for countries with limited access to VET. Therefore, in order to make contributions to the development of those countries, technical knowledge is of paramount importance. It is important for young people to undergo vocational trainings especially with regards to the dynamic change of the job requirements today.  

VET improves the quality of living standards by way of producing trained, skillful and experienced manpower. Employers prefer to hire people who have gone through vocational training since they are equipped with the necessary skills and practical experience. Hence, vocational training (VET) is considered to be as a lifelong training system that largely ensures the instant employment opportunities and those young people tend to perform a tremendous job when hired. Generally speaking, the concept of VET used to be restricted to non-university education but recently it has been shaped broadly to include the secondary schools and universities studies.  

ICYF concentrates on building youth capacity with efficient capabilities through vocational training programs in order to give them the opportunity to live with decent living standard of living. In particular ICYF looks forwards to help youth gather specialized vocational and social skills in many different fields which meet the needs of the current workplace and global market. It also seeks to provide intensive training programs to further engage youth and help them to perform better while mapping them to the available requirements. ICYF believes that technical and vocational education help youth develop theoretical and practical knowledge useful for their independence and positive contribution to society. 

ICYF VET is set to achieve numerous positive impact and implications, both socially and economically. Socially speaking, it affects youth self-awareness, time management, interpersonal relations, problem solving, increasing self-esteem and conference, and social responsibility while at the economic level, it leads to self-employment and development of self-related skills and employability.  

ICYF VET Objectives:  

• Building of strong cooperation among OIC Member Countries on TVET area 
• Strengthening member countries’ capacities in the field of TVET  
• Focusing on effective transformation and expansion of TVET. 
• Training unskilled or low skilled youth. 
• Decreasing the overall unemployment rate among Muslim youth, which is one of the crucial problems in the OIC Geography.  
• To meet the need of well trained people in the home countries of the trainees.  
• To train potential entrepreneurs and skilled workforce who will contribute to  
• Economic development process of their own country and region  
• Developing the youth awareness on their potential and their focused investment on their career paths. 
• Offering sustainable development opportunity for the youth by creating effective enforcements. 
• Preparing youth for entry-level employment and support of their skills’ growth.  
• Increasing overall knowledge and knowhow level of youth to prepare them for competitive global labor market. 

ICYF VET: NEW FIELDS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES  

Given the constant technological advances, the demands of the work future require innovative thinking that is empowering youth to become impactful economic agents locally and globally. 

offers workshops that equip youth with digital skills to empower them in today’s job market, including big-data analysis, training on hardware and software applications, and tips on thriving in a networked world. 

local initiatives to help young people achieve economic success and promote their inclusive entrepreneurship. 

The center shall provide the opportunity of vocational education and training for local youth to experience the business culture, develop skills, establish social and business national and international networks and capture new opportunities in the job market, by providing dynamic structure with rich perspective to raise qualified young professionals in all fields of business, trade and development.  

The center covers the following critical areas in the following fields: 

• Science and Technology Education (technological literacy, IT Support, Computer Science)
• Office Management and Managing Assistance
• Electrical Installation
• Web Design 
• Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET Approach)
• Farm Management & Horticulture
• Metal Works
•  Graphic Design
• Cooking and Food Services
• Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
• Carpentry
• Plumping
• Computer Repairs
• Tailoring
• Welding 
• Industrialization
• Science
• Technology and Innovation
• Art and craft

CAPACITY OF THE ICYF VOCATIONAL CENTER:  

The VET center will outreach to local cities in MALI to train youth throughout the year. It shall expand the scope of its activities to increase the number of graduates annually.  The training will target the following youth categories: between (18-30) years who have finished at least their high school program 

The center also seeks to build the capacity of young people who have started to work in some targeted professions, as well as those who will be able to work in their field following completion of their vocational training covering the following:  

• Capacity Development  
• Social Safety and Protection 
• Finance and Investment  
• Globalization and Networking  
• Knowledge Production and Publication 

COURSE CREDITS: 

As vocational and technical qualifications are credit-bearing in many countries, the students can receive credits for the year which allows them to have exemptions from some universities and allows them to go straight into the second or even final year of a degree. The students could get one certificate or three different for each of the above components. 

CERTIFICATION: 

Graduates will be awarded a certification of completion. The certificates will be awarded by ICYF, the Ministry of Education of Mali, the trainer institution, and ICYF partners.  VET Certificates are applied to graduates who have successfully completed the required levels of skills according to the international standards.  

For the Mali, ICYF vocational center to have full potential in achieving its goals and securing funding and partners of OIC institutions, international institutions and UN agencies, the training should be planed, managed, delivered and conducted according to the international quality framework, standardization.  

 QUALITY ASSURANCE:  

The vocational Center should be aware of ensuring the following aspects related to ensuring quality, there are many authorities who are eligible for assessing different skills, for instance qualification assessment and recognition, license recognition, assessment for skilled migration, trades recognition 

There are key agencies that are working effortlessly in this regard to ensure to maintain skills requirement for industry. The main aim is the skills demand to confirm VET programs meet the overall purpose such as: needs and concerns of employers, employees, training providers, and people seeking training standards Phases of Implementation (Timeline) 

FEES: 

VET courses and programs are not free, Students (both male and female) need to pay symbolic fee for the enrollment, course registration and administrative fees. There is scholarship provision for young people who are experiencing disadvantage such as young people leaving out-of-home, very poor, or with disabilities. Fees under reference  may be compensated by  of the host  country, and/or partner instituion   

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ICYF & Ministry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia agreed to establish Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Malaysia which the Ministry will provide all required logistical arrangements, including the technical infrastructure and the requisite expenditure for the effective operation of the Centre, while ICYF will send start-ups and Entrepreneurs.

ISLAMIC CORPORATION YOUTH FORUM (ICYF)

The Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum is dedicated in addressing the needs and challenges of youth throughout the OIC geography, by mandate of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States as a mandated institution affiliated to the OIC in accordance with resolution N3/32-C adopted by the 32nd session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Sana’a, Yemen on 28-30 June 2005.   

The Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum is dedicated in fulfilling its mandate, as set down in the OIC Youth Strategy, adopted at the 4th Islamic Conference of Youth Sports Ministers held in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan (17-19th of April 2018) and further endorsed by 46th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1 – 2 March 2019).  

YOUNG BUSINESS HUB

The Young Business Hub is a unique multiphase entrepreneurship platform that offers young entrepreneurs from the OIC Member States and Muslim minorities in Non-OIC Countries the opportunity of online and offline trainings in related fields and to be matched with the specifically chosen investors both on online platforms and in a yearly summit.  

Within the context of YBH, the following events were organized in cooperation with other partners namely; Kazan OIC Youth Entrepreneurship Forum, Take off Istanbul Summit, World Entrepreneurship Investment Forum, International Vocational Education Program. 

 OVERVIEW OF THE CENTER 

ICYF & Ministry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia agreed to establish Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Malaysia which the Ministry will provide all required logistical arrangements, including the technical infrastructure and the requisite expenditure for the effective operation of the Centre, while ICYF will send start-ups and Entrepreneurs.

The centre will be a start-up and Entrepreneurship Development Centre of excellence, which will offer trainings for the selected outstanding start-ups and SMEs of OIC Member states and Muslim minorities in Non OIC Country. In connection to this, ICYF will collaborate with leading international institutions to leverage the quality of trainings. 

 AIM 

The major aim of the project is to train young entrepreneurs. Including start-ups and SME’s focused on innovation from OIC Member States and Muslim communities of non-OIC Member States on innovation and value creation, while helping to create role models and providing formal education. 

OBJECTIVES OF THE YOUNG BUSINESS SUMMITS 

The Center aims to achieve following objectives; 

• Offering sustainable development, opportunities for OIC member States by creating effective reinforcement for young Muslim entrepreneurs. 
• Responding the demand   of qualified people, who will support projects and investment of local firms and NGO’s in the target countries. 
• Decreasing the overall unemployment rate among Muslim youth which is one of the crucial problems in OIC geography.  
• Training potential entrepreneurs and skilled workforce who will contribute to the development process of their own country and region. 
• Creating a market place for tech-start-ups and innovative SME’s, and provide visibility at global level. 
• Increasing the overall economic integration rate, by bringing together investors and entrepreneurs from different OIC Member States. 
• Increasing the overall job supply in OIC Member states by establishing a rigid ground for the creation of new companies. 
• Increasing overall knowledge and the know-how level of Muslim entrepreneurs, in a bid to prepare them for intense global competition. 

EXPECTED STARTUPS FOR SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRISES 

Verticals of start-ups and SMEs are; 

• Greentech start-ups: shall focus on clean energy, clean production and promoting eco-friendly zones. 
• Smart city logistics; decision to support platform for urban logistics. 
• Aerospace, is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft. 
• Fintech; refers to the integration of technology by offering financial services to companies in order to improve their use and delivery to consumers 
• Food and Agricultural Start-up. 
• Health Sport and wellness 
• Education and future employment.  
• IT Tech. 

THEMES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTRE: 

Building Capacity and Innovation  

The shift to sustainable knowledge economies and higher levels of development cannot move forward without addressing the innovative and constructive potentials of OIC youth populations. Youth are considered to be a strategic human capital in terms of development and state building, while presenting a vulnerable front in the absence of policy and strategic support to constructively empower youth in the building and transformation of OIC member states.  

Entrepreneurship 

Building capacity of youth to pursue small and medium sized ventures is essential to develop a robust, innovative and creative economy, and a precondition to attract more foreign direct investment. Providing soft and hard skills necessary to pursue self-actualization, would directly combat unemployment and challenges associated with low employment and poverty. 

Vocational Educational Training and Entrepreneurship Development (VETED) 

The VETED aims to assist participants in reinforcing and developing their cooperation and relations by improving the quality of manpower and training. This will also strengthen the cultural cooperation to realize short-term programs and transfer the knowledge acquired among communities.  

The VETED targets to reach following goals and objectives; 

• To provide professionals and training programmes for empowering local trainees. 
• To train potential entrepreneurs and skilled workforce who will contribute to development process of their own country and region. 
• To meet the needs of qualified people who will support projects and investments of local firms and NGOs in the target countries.  

PARTNERS:  

Ministry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia (Host) will provide all the required logistical arrangements, including technical infrastructure and requisite expenditure for the effective operation of the Centre. 

ICYF as the implementing agency of the centre will ensure effective implementation of the entrepreneurship development programs. ICYF will exert its efforts to provide leading start-ups and vet candidates as well as offering top level educational programs in collaboration with special partners.  

SPECIAL PARTNERS IN THE PROJECT 

The Center will cooperate with following institutions; 

• Islamic Development Bank 
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 
• Islamic Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA) 

The post YBH Malaysia Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Center Initiatied first appeared on Young Business Hub.

The Vocational Education and Training Programme for the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-VET) is a programme developed by the SESRIC in order to support and supplement the OIC Member States’ efforts to overcome the current challenges and limitations faced in the area of technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

The programme also aims to enhance the quality of TVET systems in the OIC Member States, and thus to contribute to the development and competitiveness of their economies.

Within the framework of the OIC-VET Programme, the activities are conducted under the following fields:

• Legislative Framework, Governance and Promotion
• TVET Teacher Education
• Occupational Standards and Qualification & Quality Assurance System
• Certification and Modular Training Programs

The OIC- VET Programme is implemented through following modalities:

History

• • The OIC Strategy and Plan of Action to Strengthen Economic and Commercial Cooperation among the OIC Member Countries, which was adopted by the Seventh Islamic Summit Conference in 1994, identified “Technical Cooperation and Human Resource Development” as one of its ten areas of cooperation.
  • The OIC Ten-year Programme of Action, adopted by the Third Extraordinary Summit in December 2005, indicated that there is an urgent need for the OIC Member Countries to decisively cooperate in order to face the grave political, socio-economic, cultural and scientific challenges, and to take necessary initiatives to overcome them.
  • The 33rd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM), held in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2006, noted the need to evolve sound approaches for the education and training of Muslim youth for the attainment of optimal cooperation and coordination among the Islamic countries with a view to achieving the best levels of progress for all the youth of the Islamic Ummah. To responds this need, SESRIC decided to design the OIC-VET programme and submitted its proposal to the 23rd Session of the COMCEC.
  • The 23rd Session of the COMCEC, held in Istanbul on 14-17 November 2007, took note of and supported the proposal submitted by SESRIC to launch the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the OIC Member Countries to improve the quality of vocational education and training in public and private sectors.
  • The 24th Session of the COMCEC, held in Istanbul on 20-24 October 2008, approved the proposed implementation mechanism of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) prepared by the SESRIC. The Session called upon the Member Countries to incorporate their vocational training programmes into the OIC-VET Programme, thereby, generating a common OIC platform for the benefit of the OIC countries in this area.

The initial phase of the programme

• • The Vocational Education and Training Programme for OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) was officially launched at the COMCEC Economic Summit held in Istanbul, Turkey on 9 November 2009 by H.E. Abdullah GÜL, President of the Republic of Turkey and Chairman of the COMCEC, with the participation of the heads of states and governments of the OIC Member Countries.
  • The First Operational Meeting of the Programme was held with the concerned OIC institutions in the area of VET in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in April 2009 to discuss the monitoring and operational aspects of the OIC-VET Programme. Furthermore, the First Meeting of the Monitoring and Advisory Committee (MAC) of the OIC-VET held in Izmir, Turkey, in May 2009 marked the launch of the OIC-VET Programme. Thus, within the framework of the programme, SESRIC has started to organize various training courses, workshops, study visits for the benefit of the OIC Member Countries.

New Phase of the programme

• In line with the adoption of the OIC Programme of Action 2025 during the 13th Islamic Summit Conference held in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey on 14-15 April 2016, and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; SESRIC, in its capacity as the Executing Organ of the OIC-VET Programme, considered to explore some innovative ways and means for enhancing the overall quality and impact of the programme to increase its contribution towards enhancing the TVET systems of the OIC countries. Thereby, to assess the current needs of the technical and vocational education systems in the OIC countries, SESRIC organized a series of workshops and working group meetings, and developed the OIC-TVET Strategic Roadmap 2020-2025, in close collaboration with the National Focal Points of the OIC-VET Programme and ISESCO.
• The 35th Ministerial Session of the COMCEC, which was held on 27-28 November 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey, welcomed the OIC-TVET Strategic Roadmap 2020-2025, and requested SESRIC to monitor the implementation of the Roadmap within the framework of the OIC-VET Programme.

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The post Africa: How can technical and vocational education contribute to the response to future pandemics? first appeared on Young Business Hub.

An article written by Deputy Minister of Education Mahmut Özer was published on April 18, outlining the role of Turkish vocational schools amid the outbreak and arguing that they mobilized all facilities to meet the needs of society and support health professionals.

“The vocational education and training [VET] have been critical to Turkey’s wellbeing in a time of coronavirus pandemic. With increased capacity in production, VET has become one of the main suppliers of society these days,” according to the article.

Stressing that medical masks have become the most needed piece of equipment since the beginning of the pandemic, he said dozens of schools were able to produce a million masks in a short period of time, now reaching a capacity of 10 million masks per month, including at the standards of medical-grade N95 respirators.

He went on to say that vocational high schools also focused on the production of hygiene, cleaning and disinfection materials as well and that schools had the capacity to meet all cleaning material needs for approximately 54,000 schools across the country.

Given the fact that disposable items were now needed more than ever as a result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, vocational schools are provided with the necessary production equipment. They can manufacture products including disposable gowns and overalls, especially for healthcare workers, along with disposable forks and knives.

With the help of 3-D printers, the schools are also mass-producing face shields and can supply up to half a million of them per month.

It was further stated in the article that engineers had built a device that could churn out tens of thousands of surgical masks on a daily basis and that this would be distributed to vocational schools in an effort to boost mask production.

Stressing that N95 masks were not as accessible due to the outbreak, the article said the Ministry of National Education had launched efforts to build hardware to produce such masks.

“[N]95 masks are either very few or not accessible. For this purpose, the Ministry of National Education started to research and development for machinery production. The development process continues successfully and the first machine is set to be produced in April 2020,” it explained.

“Vocational education and training become an important source in the manufacturing of highly-demanded products in times of crisis,” said the article, adding that these efforts, along with the skills of VET students and teachers, had the potential to meet the needs of society.

As part of national measures against the coronavirus, schools are currently shut down in Turkey, though education continues through remote lessons both broadcasted on the TV and uploaded online by the Ministry of National Education.

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

References: https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-vocational-schools-help-fight-against-virus-153993

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