• Package of initiatives aimed at promoting the integration of people with disabilities into the labor market
  • Supports Saudi Vision 2030 goal of enabling people with disabilities to receive training and job opportunities

Abdul Latif Jameel Investments has announced a number of initiatives to support people with disabilities, including providing specially adapted cars, professional training, and helping set up small businesses in malls.

The initiatives, aimed at improving training and employment opportunities, were outlined at an event at Abdul Latif Jameel Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation in Jeddah. This supports Saudi Vision 2030 goals of enabling people with disabilities to ensure their independence and integration as effective members of society.

They include a range of measures to help people with disabilities fulfil their full potential, including:

  • You steer program: Supporting individuals to work in the motor services industry by providing specially adapted cars with hand-only driving systems, along with financing support for the vehicle’s purchase. As a result, Hayat Jameel Charity provided a Toyota Prius passenger vehicle to Abdul Kareem Al Otaibi, and he is now officially registered as a Careem driver. Abdul Latif Jameel Investments has also signed an MoU with Careem for wider delivery of the program.
  • Trader program: Helping people with disabilities establish small businesses at major retail malls with appropriate architecture and facilities. Hayat Jameel Charity provided SAR 200,000 towards providing the necessary equipment for four kiosks. The program also offers an e-commerce tool, which is more practical and convenient for people with disabilities to use to set up a business.
  • Professional training program: Sponsoring the cost of a professional training program to help people gain work experience. The Abdul Latif Jameel Fund, in cooperation with Nafisa Shams Academy, announced it has opened the program to 20 people initially, where both men and women, who will gain employment afterwards. One success story so far is engineer Abdulaziz Karkashan, a student from King Abdul Aziz University with a disability, who signed a job offer to work at Abdul Latif Jameel Motors.
  • Adad program: Making it easier for companies to provide donations to cover the cost of training courses, the purchase of passenger cars, or the cost of treatment and therapy for people with disability. Hayat Jameel Charity donated a Toyota Hiace equipped with an electric wheelchair hoist to King Abdulaziz University to improve disabled access to the campus.

Rowaid Al-Sawaf, Deputy Managing Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Investments, said: “Providing equal opportunities for everyone – men and women, young and old – is a key theme of Saudi Vision 2030. By announcing these initiatives, we are actively contributing to helping people with disabilities have exactly the same opportunities as everyone else.

We are constantly evaluating opportunities to support people with disabilities. These include providing adapted vehicles at an affordable cost, while assuring quality.”