Azerbaijan to model Diaspora program after Birthright Excel

While less than 10 million Azerbaijanis live in Azerbaijan, the country boasts a large diaspora.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Azerbaijan Summer Camp. (photo credit: COURTESY DEBBY COMMUNICATIONS)
Azerbaijan Summer Camp.
(photo credit: COURTESY DEBBY COMMUNICATIONS)
From Birthright Israel to Birthright Azerbaijan?
The Republic of Azerbaijan’s State Committee on Affairs is working with Birthright Excel to create their local version of the highly successful business and leadership fellowship.
In the 20 years since its establishment, Birthright Israel became the largest educational-tourism organization in the world and received much acclaim from countries that also have a large diaspora. Using Birthright as a model, several countries launched heritage trips for children of their former residents, including Birthright Armenia, Heritage Greece, ReConnect Hungary, Birthright Macedonia and Global Irish Summer Camp.
While fewer than 10 million Azerbaijanis live in Azerbaijan, the country boasts a large diaspora: The number of Azerbaijanis around the world is estimated to be 30 million-35 million, including 13 million in neighboring Iran.
“Last year, we visited Birthright’s Center for Israeli Innovation at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange building and had several meetings with Birthright executives” said Vugar Mammadov, head of international relations in the State Committee on Affairs with the Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan. “They helped tremendously in improving our own version of an Azerbaijanian heritage trip in the form of a summer camp and inspired us to do more. The purpose is to engage with Azerbaijani youth in the diaspora, help them retain their national identity in the future and better represent the interests of our people and our state.”
Despite the coronavirus crisis, the Birthright Excel 2020 program is working, but remotely. Israeli companies, professional mentors, participants and guest speakers are agreeing to provide the same professional and educational experience in an online format. It is one of the very few internship programs for North Americans to work in Israeli companies that were not canceled due to COVID-19.
“We were very impressed with the program Birthright has created and realized we, too, must galvanize young Azerbaijani business executives from around the world, the leaders of tomorrow, and better acquaint them with our amazing country,” Mammadov said. “We are focusing on medical doctors, engineers and government executives, as well as artists, musicians and academics, as our potential target audiences.”
Due to the global pandemic, the Azerbaijanis launched a pilot series of online gatherings as an introduction to the actual program, which Mammadov said would be launched “once things settle down.”
Birthright Excel executive director Idit Rubin told the Azerbaijanis at their opening event that she was honored and humbled to help them deal with their local challenges.
“In the last decade since the first cohort of the program, we were lucky enough to create a global network of some 800 young business executives, some of [whom] are now CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors and key figures in their local technology and business ecosystem, and all of [whom] are dedicated Israeli fans,” she said. “It comes as no surprise that other countries want to follow in our footsteps, as working with the young generations today will generate a fruitful outcome in the future.”


Related Tags
Birthright