11 May 2023
As part of its Leadership Development Programme, Aspire Academy’s student-athletes had the privilege of hearing from Eng. Hamad Al-Harji, founder and CEO of online delivery company Snoonu.
Eng. Al-Harji not only talked to the student-athletes about what it takes to be an entrepreneur but also highlighted the importance of thinking about how understanding business will help them in the future.
The student-athletes from grades 10, 11 and 12 learnt that many of the essential qualities needed to be a top-class sportsman are the same as the ones needed to be a successful entrepreneur.
Among the topics that Eng. Al-Harji discussed were ‘how to adapt and recover from adversity’, ‘drive to constantly improve’, ‘believe in the team and the product’ and ‘focus on the activity not the emotion’
One student-athlete who said he benefited from Eng. Al-Harji’s visit was Khaled Al Wadi.
“I developed an interest in entrepreneurship after what he said in his presentation,” he explained.
“It had a lot in common with sports, the same persistence and passion that I already apply to sports, is what you need in business, it was a very positive presentation for us.”
“Success begins with failures, these failures are what strengthen your personality, increase your passion, but you need to be persistent to reach your goal.”
Eng. Al-Harji also urged the student-athletes to think about planning for the future pointing out that their time as a sportsman earning money can be relatively short and without investing wisely they could retire empty-handed.
“I enjoyed talking to Aspire and teaching sportsmen about being entrepreneurial,” he said.
“Because what is an entrepreneur? It's about intelligence, it's about teamwork, it's about goals and dreams; similar to competing for a championship.”
“For me it is similar to sport. How to sort out problems and the tactics needed.”
“What are the team’s aims for this season? What is the strategy for each match? What are the tactics you're going to follow? Who is your competitor? How are you going to build your tactics based on the competition?”
“So companies and the team are exactly the same.”
“Every sportsman has to be a smart investor, or after earning money during their career you could end without anything when they retire.”
“Sport and business are like two windows to the same building. Both of them have to aim for one thing, the success of the dream.”