Omani boys to meet with football star Lionel ‘Leo’ Messi in Qatar
Nawras and Ooredoo make dreams come true for Omani youngsters
Muscat, 14 May 2013 – As a member of Ooredoo, Nawras is inviting Omani youngsters Majid Al-Shabli and Mohamed Al Balushi to meet Ooredoo’s global brand ambassador Lionel ‘Leo’ Messi when he visits Qatar to launch a new global initiative later this month. With this once-in-a-lifetime experience, football hero Messi is set to make dreams come true for children from around the world including Majid and Mohamed.
Mohamed Al Balushi recently triumphed as one of the winners of a competition held in Oman for budding sports commentators, while Majid Al Shabli’s dedication and enthusiasm for football stood out during a Kickworldwide leadership course, sponsored by Nawras in Sohar. Both boys are overjoyed to be travelling to Qatar to be a part of this exciting occasion.
“Nawras is thrilled to be able to offer Majid and Mohamed this amazing chance to meet the world famous footballing star, Leo Messi,” said Ross Cormack, Nawras Chief Executive Officer. “We are very excited that these talented Omani youngsters are about to have such an inspiring experience. Nawras shares Ooredoo’s commitment to the development of opportunities for young people within our community.”
Ooredoo is committed to enriching people’s lives and stimulating human growth – enabling people to achieve their aspirations and, in particular, supporting youth in achieving their potential. The company is working with Messi and the Messi Foundation on a number of key projects to make a difference across Ooredoo’s markets. The first in the series of initiatives will focus upon young people’s welfare and development.
The football star will make a major announcement at a special ceremony with Ooredoo on 20 May, and will also take part in a range of activities in Qatar to promote sport and connect with the community.
As part of Ooredoo’s and Messi’s shared commitment to giving life chances to young people, Messi will host a special football coaching session in Doha, with children from across Ooredoo’s global footprint including Oman.
Lionel Messi said: “I’m looking forward to returning to Qatar and partnering with Ooredoo on initiatives to enhance opportunities for youth from around the world. Whether on the football pitch or off it, I’m always glad to make a difference in the community, and bring smiles to children’s faces.”
Majid and Mohamed will join a delegation that will include children from Qatar, Palestine, Indonesia, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait and the Maldives – all countries in which Ooredoo companies play an active role in promoting life chances for youth.
Part of the delegation will be a young girl from Palestine who won an international writing contest, a young boy from Baghdad, Iraq who overcame the loss of a leg to pursue his dreams, Indonesia’s most famous footballer-actor child, sporting talents from North Africa and other young people from across Ooredoo’s footprint with inspiring life stories. Ooredoo is sponsoring the children’s delegation and also working with Qatar local children’s organisations to enable as many young people as possible to take part.
Ooredoo announced Messi as their global brand ambassador in Barcelona in February 2013. Both Ooredoo and Messi share the belief that all young people should be given the best life chances. The company and the Leo Messi Foundation are planning to launch a range of initiatives to support social development across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, leveraging the benefits of mobile technology.
About Nawras:
Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company SAOG was founded and registered in the Sultanate of Oman in December 2004. It launched its service in March 2005 as the challenger mobile operator in Oman operating under the name Nawras. Nawras was awarded the second fixed licence in Oman in 2009, and launched its international gateway in April 2010, its corporate fixed and broadband services in May 2010, and its residential fixed and broadband services in June 2010. Since 2010, Nawras has been an integrated services telecommunications operator and is currently serving around 2 million customers across the Sultanate. Following a successful IPO, Nawras is listed on the Muscat Stock Market (MSM) under the “nwrs” ticker since 1 November 2010. Nawras is majority owned by Ooredoo, formerly known as Qtel Group, and also has a number of significant Omani shareholders which ensures that the company is strongly integrated into the Omani society. Nawras has won a number of awards including Customer Service Excellence Award in Telecom Sector 2012 from Oman Customer Care Conference, Innovation in HR Strategy 2011 from Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards, Outstanding Leader from TMT Finance Middle East 2011, Best IPO in the Middle East from emeafinance magazine and Strategic Leadership Award from Global HR Excellence Awards 2011.
About Ooredoo:
Ooredoo, formerly known as Qtel Group, is a leading international communications company delivering mobile, fixed, broadband internet and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of consumers and businesses across markets in the Middle East, North Africa and South-East Asia. As a community-focused company, Ooredoo is guided by its vision of enriching people’s lives and its belief that it can stimulate human growth by leveraging communications to help people achieve their full potential. Ooredoo has a presence in markets such as Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Palestine, the Maldives and Indonesia. The company reported annual revenues of $9.3 billion U.S. dollars and had a consolidated global customer base of more than 92 million people as of 31 December 2012. Ooredoo’s shares are listed on the Qatar Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
About Leo Messi Foundation
The Leo Messi Foundation stems from an initiative launched by Leo Messi with the support of his family and striving to ensure that children around the world enjoy equal opportunities to make their dreams come true.
Since 2007, it has been working tirelessly to accomplish its mission on behalf of children and adolescents whose health is at risk. Whether on a national or international level, the projects conducted by the Foundation all focus on education and health, particularly the battle against childhood cancer and Chagas disease.
“I reached my dream of becoming a footballer and I want you to know that I fought hard to get here and that I have to fight even harder to keep it up. Today, I want to use my own efforts and my own success to help the neediest children, because daily it moves me to see a child smile, when he thinks there is hope or when I see that he feels happy. That is why we decided to create the Leo Messi Foundation and I will keep fighting to make children happy with the same enthusiasm and dedication that drives me in pursuing my football career.”
www.fundacionleomessi.org
