Second Season of AKTASHIF to Empower the Next Generation of Creatives Across the Region

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Canon Middle East

Alright guys, so Canon Middle East has announced the launch of the second season of its Youth Empowerment programme “AKTASHIF”, which is all about discovering and developing the next generation of aspiring creatives based right here in the Middle East. 

The program is open to people aged between 14 and 25 and who currently reside in the region. These guys have created the programme to mentor and equip participants to discover, start, pursue, and unleash their creative career. Sounds awesome! 

The Details

There are four themes this year – ‘Food and Travel; Fashion and Beauty; Art and Culture; Health and Fitness’, to choose from and have a focused approach while deciding and building your creative future. Also, through Canon’s ‘Mentorship Support’ platform, aspiring creatives will have the opportunity to be guided by industry experts and learn from their professional experiences, gain insights on the current market trends, financial planning and more as they build their creative career. 

Spread across four modules, participants will work towards building their dream creative careers. 

  • Module #1: Discover Your Creative Voice is designed to help participants find their artistic voice. 
  • Module #2: Start Your Creative Journey will challenge the participants to develop a compelling business concept.  
  • Module #3: Pursue Your Creative Passion will encourage participants to work with AKTASHIF brand partners to build their creative portfolio.  
  • Module #4: Unleash Your Creative Career will help the participants build a website to launch their creative business. 

The Prizes

Participants will be guided through the four modules to build and submit their business idea by January 31, 2022. Upon completion and successful submission of all the modules, you will stand a chance to win a host of prizes across multiple categories.  

  • The Grand Winner of the programme who will be entitled to win AED 15,000 cash prize and AED 10,000 worth of Canon products.  
  • The ‘Production Recognition’ and ‘Female Entrepreneurship’ awardees will receive thousands of dirhams worth of Canon products. 
  • Top 30 participants selected at the end of the second module, of which 10 will get a chance to win internships with Canon’s brand partners while 20 will receive the M50 Canon cameras. 

 In addition to the above prizes, AKTASHIF winners will also receive business incubator support, website, and hosting packages, along with the best ideas being promoted across Canon social media platforms using hashtags #AKTASHIF and #CanonME.  

This year, the AKTASHIF programme is supported by a number of local and regional partners and an esteemed panel of judges. They will be extending their support to mentor the participants as they build their creative career in the field of photography, videography, and print. 

What next?

Stay tuned on the AKTASHIF channels for more information on our partners and panel of judges to be announced soon! 

For more information and to sign up for the AKTASHIF this year, log onto: https://en.canon-me.com/aktashif-programme/