When 12-year-old Zikri Nabhan Al Khaduri was invited to take part in Zimam, Oman’s National Leadership Project, he didn’t expect it to have such a profound impact on him.

“I was very shy earlier, but when I came here, I learned that it was okay to ask questions if you did not know the answer to something,” he said. 

“We are all part of a bigger team and if we are faced with problems, we need to help each other to solve them. That makes us work better and it also makes us understand each other,” said Al Khaduri.

“If I keep thinking that I alone am capable of solving any problem, then I will be stuck in my ways and I won’t grow as a person. I want to see all my friends also take part in this because I learned many important things here.”

Young Al Khaduri was one of the more than 900 students selected by Oman Sail and the Omani Authority for Partnership for Development (OAPFD), for Zimam, a pilot leadership project that is aimed at grooming the next generation of leaders across the Sultanate.

Launched in February 2017, Zimam took in 469 students from schools in the Batinah region: 52 per cent of them were male and 48 per cent of them were female. 19 per cent of these students came from underprivileged backgrounds. In addition, a further 434 college students were also drafted in, of which 49 per cent were male and 51 per cent were female.

These young Omanis were put through a series of team-building tasks, which were aimed at improving seven competencies: communication, teamwork, leadership, decision making, resilience, time management and self-confidence. And the programme seemed to have worked, according to Abdulrahman Khalfan Al Wahaibi, a student at Oman Tourism College.

“I really enjoyed the activities because they really changed my life and my perspective,” he told the Times of Oman. “In the beginning, I was a bit scared because I was asked to lead and I didn’t really know how to do that, but my coach told me to do what I thought was right, and to communicate this with the team in a good way.”

“We had this one activity, where one person was blindfolded and it was up to the others to guide him through an obstacle course,” added Khalfan. “This taught us the importance of trust, patience, communication, focus and coordination as a team. There was another activity in which we needed to travel from one island to the next, with the aid of just two planks, and this was really tough. This was about thinking your actions through, and in the beginning, we couldn’t do it, but when we figured it out, we realised the importance of teamwork and determination.”

In the wake of this success, Oman Sail and the OAPFD now want to expand this programme to train up to 10,000 students a year.

“We recently sent a questionnaire on soft skills to the heads of Oman’s most important institutions, such as Bank Muscat, HSBC, Sohar Aluminium, Haya Water, Ithraa, Ooredoo, Oman Air and Omantel among others, and these are likely to be the biggest employers of these students in future,” said David Graham, chief executive officer (CEO) of Oman Sail. “97 per cent of them told us that graduates needed better communication skills, and all of them said they needed better interpersonal skills, so we’re glad we are actively contributing towards the needs of the industry.”

These skills are also sure to aid the Omani graduates, who will be needed to man the jobs brought about by Tanfeedh, the nation’s long-term plan for economic diversification.

“This has been an incredible success with the potential to transform thousands of young lives at a key stage of their personal development,” said Dr. Dhafir Al Shanfari, CEO of OAPFD. “The long-term benefits to Oman’s economy, skills base, creative industries and capability to become competitive in global markets will be driven by initiatives like this and we’re proud to provide young Omanis with an opportunity like this.”