Little do we know what Emotional Intelligence or EQ means but Saudi Arabia’s Solafa Batterjee is pioneering EQ through education and business in the Kingdom. Embedding on a personal journey inspired by her children, she fulfilled her quest to be a better mother and woman when she first learnt about emotional intelligence in 2009.
“My journey with emotional intelligence started with a tear of a mother, tears of many mothers,” she said. “As mothers, we always want the best for our kids, we ride the roller coaster of empathy with them and sometimes we get stuck not knowing how to navigate all that love, caring and a lot of times, frustration.”
Batterjee believes EQ is the capability of using the energy of emotions to make better choices and wiser decisions without harming oneself or others.
Her interest in education as a tool for change ignited in her as a child, growing up in a family who had a strong passion for education. In an interview with Al Arabiya, she said her parents taught her that education was the main tool for human empowerment.
Batterjee began volunteering in education at the age of 13. Having worked as a teacher during summer programs was when she first realized she enjoyed the experience of teaching others.
She is currently the CEO of Doroob, a non-profit organization that serves societies through investing in educating the elite to empower them to become leaders of positive change.
Through her role as CEO, she combines her passion for education with business. “I upgraded my vision into touching the lives of 2.2 billion children through compassionate empathy. It’s still about kids, but the scope is bigger.”
Doroob offers educational scholarships to fund and support gifted students with economic challenges. Explaining the initiative, Batterjee said, “To empower the students with the 21st century skills, through training programs in various human disciplines, which will prepare the student to be a successful leader, as well as developing the children’s emotional intelligence, which is a part of us as human beings, where it highlights our ability to initiate and influence, especially since scientific studies proved that academic excellence, is not the only measure of a successful person, the superior might be unable to manage his personal life properly.”
Batterjee believes emotional intelligence in the Kingdom has reached a certain level of awareness which she said she’s very keen to build on. “Saudis feel the need and see the value in EQ,” she explained.
