RIYADH: Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiative Lisa Jackson recently visited the Riyadh-based all-female Apple Developer Academy. The academy was established in 2021 in collaboration with the Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, the Tuwaiq Academy and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones with the aim of helping women entrepreneurs and developers begin careers in the app economy. During the tour of the facility with Ohood Al-Nayel, the director of the academy, Jackson met with female tech enthusiasts from the academy who showcased the apps they had developed. HIGH LIGHT The app ideas developed by the academy’s young women range from finding the right skincare products to bridging communication with autistic children. “The facility is beautiful. The university and the federation should be commended because they really did provide an atmosphere that matched the aspiration of these learners,” said Jackson. The app ideas developed by the academy’s young women range from finding the right skincare products to bridging communication with autistic children. “From the first-year program, we had an app called Traffic Channel, which after joining the Visionary Program at the academy and after our market research, we pivoted into BoxE,” said Ranin Al-Marghalani, co-founder and CEO of BoxE. “When you are checking out from an online store, instead of typing your home address each time you shop, you will click on an icon in the app and add your information and location once, which then can be used each time you shop online,” explained Al-Marghalani. Einas Al-Turki, one of four developers who worked on Sabeel, said of the app: “Sabeel is a free communication app developed to help autistic children easily communicate with their caregivers through a picture exchange communication system. “With a single tap, autistic children can send notifications to their caregivers, expressing their wants and needs, and caregivers can create their own customized (PECS).” On meeting with the young app developers at the academy, Jackson said: “Today I heard things that inspire me, that I will keep with me, and that, I think, is the beauty of the collaboration that is happening here.” Jackson sat down for a round table discussion with some students from the Visionary Program, which is an intensive six-month program for second-year students that aims to support ambitious and innovative Apple Developer Academy graduates with minimum viable products. “I think the most important thing is for a woman to see herself in that job and to see role models and to know when we talk about developers, that is who we are talking about,” said Jackson. She added: “I think this is the only academy we have that is devoted to females. I was curious myself to see how that manifested.”