SMC Editorials by Mr. Omar Shokur

“I tried to take advantage of each moment and appreciate each moment even though I was in a country of war” – Mr Omar Shokur

Mr Omar was a mentor who had experienced many life transitions and had worked his way from an Afghanistan Refugee to a CEO. The Singapore Mentorship Committee was fortunate to have him grace his presence in a hike with a record-breaking number of participants on 20th August 2022.

Mr Omar kickstarted his speech by sharing about both his corporate and personal journey in order to inspire the youths to look positively at their circumstances. Firstly, he emphasized how he was grateful to be one of the lucky ones who had the opportunity to escape the conflict zone to rebuild his life, and in the process of gratitude, he developed a strong sense of purpose to not waste the opportunity that he had been given and worked his hardest in developing his abilities, whether through learning new languages such as French or studying hard in school to get to EPFL or MIT.

However, a key learning point shared during the hike was the concept of building something out of nothing. Whilst many youths struggle with having to cope with daily stresses and are afraid to move forward, Mr Omar’s experiences helped him to manage his ability to deal with complicated situations. This was largely inspired by Mr Omar’s Father, who always displayed a “can do” attitude. Even when they had arrived in Switzerland as refugees and they did not have any money and did not know how to speak the language, Mr Omar’s father inspired him to start a business together and made use of small government subsidies to start a catering business.

All in all, Mr. Omar had learned to focus on the present, as he set small goals and worked voraciously to achieve them. Being in a war-torn environment also allowed him to appreciate each moment as even an extra hour of electricity could bring a lot of joy. Lastly, Mr Omar’s experience also allowed him to become someone with a diverse background, where he can now identify as an Afghan, Italian and Swiss.

All these experiences culminated even though Mr. Omar had very little in the various facets of his life. As such, the experience from the SMC hike serves as a call to action for youths to learn to appreciate the wealth of opportunities that they have and be new innovators of the future, creating new opportunities in areas where it seems like we do not have much for the future of Singapore.