Page 30 - SAMENA Trends - July-September 2024

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

A Regional First: Zain Group Partners with ‘Be My Eyes’ to Provide
Accessibility Assistance to People Who are Blind or have Low Vision

Zain Group has entered a regional first-of-
its-kind strategic partnership with ‘Be My
Eyes’ to provide instant visual assistance
for people who are blind or have low vision.
Following a series of successful pilots
across Zain markets, the new group-wide
partnership with Be My Eyes will see Zain
personnel regularly act as sighted volun-
teers on the Be My Eyes platform. Be My
Eyes develops and runs the largest and
fastest-growing accessibility app for the
blind and low vision community worldwide,
with approximately 700,000 users globally
of which close to 100,000 are Arabic-speak-
ing blind users. The recipient of several in-
novation and accessibility awards, Be My
Eyes also has over 7.7 million volunteers,
spread across 150+ countries providing
support in 180+ languages. The collabora-
tion will see Be My Eyes educate and facili-
tate 16 volunteering events, over a period of
a year, for Zain employees, with each event
lasting four hours and up to 100 personnel. accessibility but also fostering meaningful fresh graduates with disabilities teaching
The volunteering events will allow Zain- connections that provide information, with them valuable lessons and knowledge and
ers to sign up and answer one-way video, speed and elegance, about a world not de- skills related to mastering job interviews,
two-way audio calls from people in need of signed for the blind." A summary of ‘Inclu- business technology, teamwork and tools
some sort of assistance. In practice, once sive’ initiatives implemented by Zain that resulted in the recruitment of 10 grad-
the volunteer gets the video call, they will Zain is one of the most active companies re- uates to join Zain full-time. Other initiatives
answer user questions about anything the gionally with respect to providing access to include celebrating Braille Day by teaching
user’s smartphone camera can see, such people with disabilities having implement- employees Braille; celebrating World Hear-
as reading a document, identifying where ed a fully-fledged disability inclusive strat- ing Day by conducting health checks and
something is, in their home, school or work- egy, reflecting its commitment to fostering tests for employees; Sign language train-
place, describing a new environment, and technology to support this community. Zain ings for more than 350 employees; holding
many other potential scenarios. Comment- has introduced an array of initiatives under multiple sessions where employees are
ing on the initiative, Bader Al-Kharafi, Zain its Disability’s WE ABLE program, most re- taught about disability and accessibility;
Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, said, “We cently, in August 2024, having over 80 of its a strategic partnership with Purplespace,
are an operator from the region and for the people with disabilities (PWDs), the compa- the world's only professional development
region, passionate about community pro- ny introduced ‘The Masters’, an Employee hub for disability network leaders; Physical
grams that add meaningful connectivity to Resource Group made up of approximately accessibility audits of all Zain headquar-
all people we have the privilege of serving 25 PWDS all with a collective purpose of en- ters across all markets; and implementa-
and beyond. We are proud of our record of abling them to create, lead, and shape their tion of “Reasonable Accommodations and
introducing new solutions and initiatives to experiences at Zain through a focus on four Accessibility Guidelines.” Zain’s strategic
the region for the first time, and our collabo- core impact areas: 1. Disability Inclusion partnership with Be My Eyes will result in
ration with Be My Eyes reflects our commit- Strategy; 2. Accessibility in Decision-Mak- having more volunteers from the compa-
ment to inclusion by harnessing technology ing; 3. Learn and Lead; 4. Voice and Vis- ny’s eight country footprint on the app to
to better serve the global community.” "At ibility. Over recent years, Zain also intro- act as volunteers for the Be My Eyes user
Be My Eyes, we are thrilled to partner with duced in Jordan, a service to allow people community. The innovative and personal
Zain Group, a leader in the digital landscape with low vision, blind, hearing impaired, or approach aligns with both Zain’s Corporate
across the Middle East and Africa. This deaf individuals to interact with contracts Sustainability program; and the Disability
collaboration represents a significant step and understand their terms through an program’s ‘We ABLE’ initiative focusing on
forward in our mission to make the world audio-visual video available through scan- empowering its people to practice social
more accessible for blind and low-vision in- ning a QR Code located in Zain showrooms responsibility, fostering a society where
dividuals.” said Mike Buckley, CEO of Be My across the Kingdom. Moreover, the compa- everyone has equal opportunities to dream
Eyes. “Together, we are not only enhancing ny’s Grow program saw the training of 28 and succeed.

30 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2024