Ooredoo Wins Big at the International Business Awards

Huge Haul of 14 Awards and a Grand Stevie Prize for Successful Rebrand and String of Initiatives Focusing on Young People

Doha, Qatar: Ooredoo has won a record-breaking 14 awards at the 2014 International Business Awards, known as “the Stevies,” as the company’s efforts to enrich people’s lives continue to win global recognition.

Over the past year, Ooredoo has supported a range of projects aimed at boosting youth employment opportunities, educational options and entrepreneurial ambitions across its markets in the MENA region and Southeast Asia. A number of these projects were recognised at the Stevie Award ceremony, held in Paris, France last week.

Providing a solid foundation for this work - and the winner of two Gold Stevie Awards at the ceremony - was Ooredoo’s pioneering research, ‘New Horizons: Young, Arab and Connected’, which was launched at the start of 2014. Surveying more than 10,500 young adults in 17 countries across the region, “New Horizons” was one of the most in-depth research projects about youth aspirations in the Arab world, conducted during a period of intense economic, social and political change.

“New Horizons” received the Gold Stevie Award for “Communications Campaign of Year” and a second Gold for its innovative website, which shared the findings online with a global audience.

Ooredoo also won three Silver Stevie Awards for its outreach work, including awards for its global network of mobile health clinics targeting underserved communities in Asia; for supporting motivational videos targeting Myanmar and Indonesia; and for its “Play for Dreams” online campaign, which used its relationship with brand ambassador Leo Messi to inspire young people to get involved in sport and pursue their ambitions.

Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: “These awards demonstrate the incredible range of initiatives developed and sustained by our company since the launch of the Ooredoo brand last year, which have helped to empower people across our markets. Ooredoo is focused on human growth in all our activities, and to be nominated for so many awards in a global competition demonstrates that we are successfully turning our vision for enriching lives into a reality.”

The International Business Awardswere created to honour the positive contributions of organisations worldwide.

In addition to the Gold and Silver Awards, Ooredoo also received a total of nine Bronze Stevie awards, including awards for His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani for “Chairman of the Year”, Dr. Nasser Marafih for “Executive of the Year - Telecommunications”; “Telecommunications Company of the Year” for Ooredoo Group and “Best Annual Report.”

There were also Bronze Awards for Ooredoo Algeria’s tStart and iStart programmes, designed to support start-ups, training, and mobile app development in North Africa.

By receiving the best-ever award total at the Global event, Ooredoo is again demonstrating the incredible impact of its new brand and approach to communications. Ooredoo was also presented with “Best of the International Business Awards” prize. Ranked at number seven, Ooredoo won the “Grand Stevie Award”, which is determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won. Ooredoo was the only Middle East-based telecommunication company to receive this recognition.

The company has rolled-out the Ooredoo brand in Qatar, Algeria, Maldives, Tunisia, Kuwait and Myanmar, its newest market, since the global launch in February 2013, and has continued to ensure that there is a positive impact for customers wherever they see the Ooredoo logo.