{"id":17045,"date":"2016-03-17T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=17045"},"modified":"2017-11-21T10:44:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T08:44:29","slug":"meet-our-alumni-shadi-khawandanah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/meet-our-alumni-shadi-khawandanah\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet our Students: Shadi Khawandanah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Khawandanah has set up more than 12\u00a0successful companies in the ME & Europe and is a Board Member of numerous different organizations. His\u00a0background includes business\u00a0innovation, organizational leadership, entrepreneurship and strategic\u00a0management. He is an approved and accredited business consultant by the Saudi\u00a0Ministry of\u00a0Commerce and Industry and certified in strategic management\u00a0from Harvard. He is currently studying a DBA<\/a> at EU to add to his already prolific CV.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"How does it feel that your own company, Special Direction Group, has been recognized with the King Khalid Award in the field of \u201cResponsible Competitiveness\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Award reflects\u00a0the appreciation of the Saudi government to the social activities and initiatives we are developing and managing in the world to develop the youth, empower women, and create the knowledge economy.<\/p>\n

What work has the Special Direction Group has done to achieve the award?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our focus is on creating positive and real change in the society. We believe that sustainable development and social\u00a0responsibility\u00a0are practices and\u00a0implemented\u00a0projects, not just theories.<\/p>\n

We focus on community contributions and volunteering work, being committed to implementing the best sustainable development and social responsibility practices. In addition to that, empowering the youth to participate in knowledge and cultural programs, and educating them about the economic and innovative benefits that serve them and their society environmentally and socially.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, we have developed “Direction\u201d \u2013 the social responsibility arm of Special Direction Group that creates and runs\u00a0a lot of supportive programs for youth in the Middle East and the world, to add value to their personal life and their nations.<\/p>\n

In the past 10 years, Direction has handled hundreds of social and volunteering projects for universities; business\u00a0centers; national and international\u00a0committees; and chambers of commerce.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Is there a project that you are particularly proud of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m particularly proud of our \u201cDirection Tour\u201d \u2013 a knowledge and culture exchange program that accelerates the beneficial value of\u00a0multicultural ideas for the youth.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Knowledge\/Culture Exchange Program is designed to share knowledge on specific topics such as; Women\u2019s\u00a0Empowerment, Social\u00a0Responsibility, Youth Development, Volunteering Values, Leadership and Strategy, etc.\u00a0We achieve this by creating smart groups and including them in the thought process, visiting the key international bodies worldwide and meeting the leaders and\u00a0decision makers in the related topics. The groups seek the latest knowledge\u00a0and create a dynamic\u00a0dialogue with counterparts to exchange cultures.<\/p>\n

\"\"How have things changed since you received the award?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The award has enhanced the ability of Special Direction to build competitive advantage through a commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). We have boosted and aligned the CSR practices with business imperatives such as promoting growth, improving profitability, enhancing brand and reputation, and deepening the engagement with key stakeholders. On a global level, we have participated in increasing the Kingdom\u2019s competitiveness, while also helping it to achieve its economic, social and environmental development goals.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the next step for yourself and for Special Direction Group?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next major step has already been taken and has been in place since January 1, 2016. Whereas before I was the CEO and Chairman of the Board since founding the group, I have now left the CEO position and allowed the second level of management to take over. Handling only the Chairman role has given the business more flexibility to grow and innovate, and achieve better results. In addition, it freed me up to focus on the activities of social responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Khawandanah has set up more than 12\u00a0successful companies in the ME & Europe and is a Board Member of numerous different organizations. His\u00a0background includes business\u00a0innovation, organizational leadership, entrepreneurship and strategic\u00a0management. He is an approved and accredited business consultant by the Saudi\u00a0Ministry of\u00a0Commerce and Industry and certified in strategic management\u00a0from Harvard. He is currently studying a DBA at EU to add to his already prolific CV. How does it feel that your own company, Special Direction Group, has been recognized with the King Khalid Award in the field of \u201cResponsible Competitiveness\u201d? The Award reflects\u00a0the appreciation of the Saudi government to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[635],"tags":[903,906,904,902,905],"class_list":["post-17045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-khawandanah","tag-king-khalid-award","tag-saudi","tag-shadi","tag-special-direction","post--single"],"yoast_head":"\r\nMeet our Students: Shadi Khawandanah | EU Business School<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/meet-our-alumni-shadi-khawandanah\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EU Business School\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/meet-our-alumni-shadi-khawandanah\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"EU Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Community\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/eu-business-school-community\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"EU Students\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/eu-business-school-community\\\/students\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Meet our Students: Shadi Khawandanah\"}]}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet our Students: Shadi Khawandanah | EU Business School","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/meet-our-alumni-shadi-khawandanah\/","author":"EU Business School","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/meet-our-alumni-shadi-khawandanah\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"EU Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EU Community","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"EU Students","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/students\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Meet our Students: Shadi Khawandanah"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17045"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23604,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045\/revisions\/23604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}