Silatech was launched at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum in January 2008 by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, initially targeting six pilot countries: Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
[10] In 2016, Silatech was active in 16 countries,[11] running projects with partners in the areas of microfinance, career advice and employability, small and medium enterprises (SME) development, civic engagement and research and policy advocacy.
[13] Meanwhile, another initiative, Tamheed, in collaboration with Mindmill, has created an online career guidance platform with psychometric testing, which has been used by young people in Qatar, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
[14] Partnering with Tunisiana, the main private telecommunications operator in Tunisia, Silatech launched e-mobile employment platform MobiWorks in 2013, reaching 300,000 Tunisians in less than a month, and offering mobile learning for entrepreneurship, career guidance and financial literacy.
[16] Collaborating with Pearson Education’s Edexcel brand, Silatech developed an accredited course and new qualification (Silaqual) for construction industry training in Yemen.
[19] This project was the expansion of a youth micro-savings pilot with Al Amal Microfinance Bank in Yemen, where 11,000 young people opened savings accounts for the first time between 2010 and 2013.
[21] Silatech and UNWRA announced ‘Mubaderati’ (Initiatives) in February 2012, providing a select group of entrepreneurs with financing to help begin their businesses.
[23] A partnership with Attawfiq Microfinance in 2012 introduced "Boudour" (Seed), the first loan product specifically for youths in Morocco, which over 7,000 entrepreneurs had received by June 2013.
[28] In September 2013, Grameen-Jameel (a joint venture with the Grameen Foundation) joined with Silatech to enable new access to microfinance for young people in countries such as Libya.
[32] The Al Fikra Business Plan Competition is managed by Enterprise Qatar, with Silatech and the SILA early-stage investment network as co-organizers.
[38] Silatech organized a conference on 16–17 October 2013 at UC Berkeley’s Fung Institute to bring figures from the Arab world together with scholars, venture capitalists, and Silicon Valley innovators.
[45] In 2012, Silatech collaborated with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and Sanabel to survey regional microfinance institutions, identifying gaps in youth financial inclusion and seeking to use the information to improve policy.
This project is based on the Qatar National Vision 2030, which tries to balance economic and social growth for all Qataris by investing in them and making sure that everyone gets care, attention, and justice.
Ta3mal, a Silatech-Microsoft initiative, offers career guidance tools like "Tamheed," e-learning courses, employability and entrepreneurship training, and entry-level job opportunities in the country.
[56] "Tamm," meaning "consider it done" in Qatari Arabic, promotes youth volunteerism and civic involvement by linking volunteers with organizations that need them online.