PRCA PULSE By Raghad Elassi​, NextGen MENA Arabia Chair, Senior Public Relations Specialist OSN​ ​

Earlier this month, PRCA NextGen Arabia has launched Hala NextGen, a network designed for Arabic-speaking professionals to connect, engage, collaborate, and guide the PR community across the MENA region. 

You can find all relevant information about the initiative on our website here. We asked the Chair of PRCA NextGen Arabia, Raghad Elassi, to share the thinking behind the initiative and how you can get involved. 

She’s a Senior PR Specialist at OSN and a Mass Communications Graduate from the American University of Sharjah in the UAE. 

 

For those who don’t know what it’s like to be an Arabic-speaking PR professional in the region, here is a glimpse:  

Since I graduated in 2016, I found myself in an industry I refused to take a course in, Public Relations. I was lucky enough to kick start my career in a nurturing environment where I grew by learning the basic skill set required to equip my development in this evolving industry. From content writing to client servicing to media relations to influencers marketing and creative thinking, I got it all covered.  

I think I only realized about two years ago that the Arabic-speakers accounts for 20% of the team. Let that sink in again. Only 20% of the people on an account are native speakers who understand and speak the language of the region. So basically, we need to juggle our skillset in both languages, Arabic and English, resulting in higher expectations compared to a colleague who is a non-Arabic speaker.  

 

Why is it more complicated?  

Firstly, and most importantly I need to highlight that not all Arabs speak formal Arabic well. We have various dialects in the region which we use in our day-to-day conversations.   

In high school, our curriculum has only dedicated one hour a week for Arabic classes while English classes accounted for a minimum of 10 hours a week. Furthermore, graduating from an American university only meant that the overall courses required delivering, communicating and studying the assignments in the English language only.  

Technically, the last time I studied formal Arabic was at least 10 years ago.  

 

So why Hala NextGen?  

Since PRCA MENA relaunched NextGen Arabia Group in March, the committee has been a great support for each other. Especially when it comes to handling PR in both languages, Arabic and English. During our first introductory call, everyone shared the same beliefs and mentioned they want to raise awareness and address the complexity of handling PR in the Arab Region.  

 

These were the most common situations/problems we faced:  

  1. Clients pressuring to deliver coverage with Arabic publications 
  1. Had difficulty working on/ translating an Arabic press release 
  1. Continuously clashing with one of our team members when educating them on doing PR in this region  

 

Everyone following a career in PR needs minimal guidance and support, therefore, we thought this is the best way to give back.  

Our aim is to connect the Arabic-speaking PR community together through Hala NextGen and we thought it’s about time that Arabic PR professionals have the same opportunity as well to boost their careers. 

Our aim through this initiative is to provide the next generation with opportunities to grow professionally, personally and gain credible exposure within the PR industry.  

 

Have you signed up yet?   

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