The CEO of Enterprise Qatar, Noora Al Mannai, with other officials.
BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: About 100 million fresh Arab graduates will enter into job markets over the next 15 years, and providing them with appropriate employment opportunities, and entrepreneurial education and training is critical, said Alex Sloan, Portfolio Director at the US-based Skoll Foundation here recently at Al Fikra award ceremony.
Sloan said: “At the backdrop of the biggest youth unemployment crisis in the region, where 70 percent of the population is under the age of 25, with about 100 million new graduates entering the job markets over the next 15 years, access to the right education, training and mentorship is critical to get the Arab youth to provide the skills they need to succeed.”
He added that the sense of urgency is more because these young people are in neighbouring countries.
They need to be future leaders, employees, customers and contributors to the society. “We need to take immediate action. Entrepreneurship education is critical so that they shift the reigns of economic destiny from the wrong hands.”
Sloan was here as a keynote speaker at the Qatar National Business Plan Competition, Al Fikra, and MIT Enterprise Forum 2013 winners award ceremony that was announced on Thursday at Katara Cultural Village.
Highlighting the significance of entrepreneurship, he added that it is not only about seeking to sell more products and services; entrepreneurship also requires finding innovative ways to solve problems. “Entrepreneurs are the game changers; they are change makers and innovators.”
On the significance of ‘Social Entrepreneurship’, he said that it can address pressing issues such as climate change due to deforestation; providing clean and safe drinking water for everyone; eliminating the transmission of HIV from mothers to unborn children; providing micro-loans to lowest-income people to start businesses and educating children from lower-income families.
The event was organised in partnership with MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Pan Arab Region, Enterprise Qatar (EQ) and Silatech. This year’s Al Fikra finals took place concurrently with the finals of MITEF Arab Start-up Competition.
The teams from both Al Fikra and MITEF Pan Arab Region made their final pitches to the jury panel headed by Shiakh Dr Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani, culminating in the choice and announcement of the winners of both competitions, and followed by the awards ceremony.
The event took place under the patronage and in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, member of EQ Board and the chairman of the Executive Committee of EQ.
The first prize of Al Fikra, in the ‘Professional Category’ went to “QPAY” (Payment Processing) by Nebil ben Aissa and Sheikh Mohammed bin Jabor Al Thani and the second prize was claimed by Diana Al Dajane for “EduTechnoz”, which also bagged a special award from MITEF. The third prize went to “RAWE”, a joint project by Abdulrahman Al Ishaq, Dr Jassim Al Abdullah and Ahmed Al Farsi in the field of Art and Entertainment. In the ‘Students Category’, the first prize went to Adnan Sayed for ‘The Zone’, a business idea related to technology or e-sports, followed by ‘Looms & Knots’, an innovative product by Haya Al Kubaisi and Rafay Abbasi that bagged the second prize. Mashael Al Misnad and Fatima Fikree jointly won the third prize for ‘Al Malaf’.
During the same event, winners of the MITEF Pan-Arab business plan competition were also announced. First place winner: “Instabug” from Egypt; second place: “Darebni TV” from Jordan; third place: A tie between “Gallery Al Sharq” from Jordan, and “The Homepage” from Egypt.
Noora Al Mannai, CEO of EQ, said: “The competition may be over now until next year, but EQ is always there to help sustain that momentum towards a healthy local ecosystem for successful enterprise.”
Present were Hala Fadel, Chairperson of MITEF, Dr Tarik M Yousef, CEO of Silatech, Mohammed Y Hakami, Director, Business Development from Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiative, a Saudi-based non profit entity, and representatives from a host of supporters of Al Fikra including QNB, ExxonMobil, Sasol, Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar, Qatar University, College of North Atlantic- Qatar, Georgetown University-Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University-Qatar and Stenden University-Qatar.
The Peninsula
