Dr Abeer, an exemplary enlightened mother
As asset to her country
This is the first in a series of articles on Dr Abeer Al Omani, an exceptional lady scientifically oriented, electric engineer with a master’s in strategic planning and a PhD in entrepreneurship, business management studies. – Editor
DBy Lidia Qattan
r Abeer Al Omani is an exceptional young Kuwaiti lady, a good example of an enlightened mother, an asset to her country and to ‘humanity’ in its true portent.
What makes us human is our brain and our transcendent mind, which we are just beginning to develop through science, technology and social media. The more information we receive the more we become aware of our humanity, and the more we change our way of thinking and the decision we make, hence we become more compassionate, more loving, more forgiving, ‘this’ is the essence of all great religions!
Not so long ago there was nothing called human rights, animal rights, nor a growing concern for our planet; humanity is becoming aware of its true portent. Mental development is a continuous process, a foregoing mental awareness that affects some people more than others depending on the degree of intelligent awareness endowing the individual.
Dr Abeer Al Omani is a highly cultured lady of the younger generation of Kuwaitis, she was born in the eighties when Kuwait was undergoing radical cultural changes. Three months before she was born her father, Abdulrahman Al Omani passed away. Though Abeer never saw her father, she got to know him through the talk of her mother and through the books he used to read.
Abdulrahman Al Omani was a cultured man, a descendant from a long line of Tawas, wealthy pearl merchants renown throughout the Gulf for their prowess in business as well as in languages. Abdulrahman was a Nokheda like his father before him, (the Nokheda is a traditional sea captain of the old days sea-faring in the Gulf, often he was the owner of his own ship and a wealthy merchant). Like his predecessors Abdulrahman mastered the languages of the people he was coming in contact with during the traditional trading route that lasted up to nine months of the year. When he was at home he often spent time in his library reading on a variety of subjects: commerce, politics, literature and other issues. When he died, his young wife, Soad Al Najjar never remarried, she devoted her life to the upbringing of her two children, Abdulmahsen and her little daughter, Abeer born 3 months after her father demised. The strong bond of mother and children shaped their life and influenced their destiny.
Inquisitive
Abeer was born with a highly inquisitive mind, which her mother encouraged through her judicial nurturing that ingrained in her a feeling of responsibility from an early age.
When schooling began Abeer became an avid reader, she was often spending time in her father’s library reading books that were beyond her full comprehension, but were spurring her innate propensity for thinking independently.
Seeing her so deeply interested in her father’s library her mother was trying to make her focus on books she could better understand, but Abeer’s attraction were books that opened her mind and made her look at the world in a wider prospective. Besides reading using her imagination and reasoning she loved to experiment, dolls and toys did not interest her.
During her growing up the yearly Book Festival organized by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters was her greatest delight. Whatever money her mother was giving her to buy books, it was hardly enough to satisfy her yearning for more.
Lidia Qattan
In school Abeer was an “A” student, her favorite subjects were math, physics and biology; throughout her scholastic years she ranked first in her class, if not in the whole school! In her extra-curriculum activities she was responsible for planning and preparing the morning radio-school program, sport did not interest her.
At graduation from high school in 1997, Abeer got full Government sponsorship to study abroad. Her mother was expecting her to choose medical science, but Abeer‘s aim was to study engineering, an expanding field of inquiring more in tune with her mental inclination.
In vain her mother tried to make her change her mind, she couldn’t, that was the first time mother and daughter conflicted in their decision, however when the family on her husband’s side stood against Abeer‘s decision to study abroad, insisting she should attend the Kuwait University, her mother stood in firm support of her leaving the country to study.
At the California State University, USA being suddenly alone away from home it was hard on Abeer because of her strong family attachment, however, she thrives on challenges and could soon settle down to her academical environment focusing on her study, paying the bills and looking after herself.
In 2001, Abeer got her Bachelor of Science in Electric Engineering, emphasis on power with a GPA 3.2/4.00. Offered a covetous job by the University, she declined it in favor of serving her country in the best of her ability.
At her return home Abeer found a ready job at the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). During the on-job-training program she got married to a young man, Abdullah Al Awani, who through the years proved to be her best friend and companion in life, indeed he became her greatest support through her increasingly engaging working career especially after the birth of their children, Faisal, Amna and Omar, with whom she spends quality time, guiding them with love, mutual understanding, encouraging them to open their mind through risks and reliability study under the guidance of Shell global solution consultancy, which resulted in developing standard business procedure policies. Incidentally the list of her proactive participation is too long to mention it whole!
As the Secretary of the Kuwait Capital Market Authority (KCMA) Abeer facilitated the Board of Commissioners meetings for strategic direction transition strategies and defined the level of support recurred for external advisors.
As a young manager at the strategies and program department Abeer orchestrated the strategic alignment and deployment process of the KCMA corporate strategy, which is the core and support functional area; the task involved: facilitation of technical workshops and identifying strategic initiatives.
From 2012 till 2015, Abeer was assigned to generate and structure the KCMA first strategy document, she also acted as a correspondence liaison between KCMA and the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning to explore common areas of cooperation, and to respond to queries on the different development projects; also part of her job was aligning KCMA strategy and programs with the state Five Year Development Plan 2009-2014.
Abeer then headed a task force team for monitoring the implementation of the KCMA functional strategies in accordance with the CMA laws and strategic directions. She also launched a strategic engagement and awareness campaign across KCMA core business units as part of change management initiative, and conducted strategic audit for the different part of the business, highlighting major deficiencies, pointing out areas of improvement and business risks and providing council to the KCMA board.
Again to mention the list of her successful engagement is too long to be mentioned whole.
To be continued