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Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC) has kicked off a 10-week entrepreneurial programme called the “Lean Startup” for all its shortlisted participants. |
“Lean Startup” is one of QBIC’s flagship programmes that provides entrepreneurs with hands-on learning experience on how to successfully start a company.
The participants will use their business model canvas to develop their own business models and the customer development model to validate their business models. Based on customer feedback, they will then develop a product that suits their customers’ requirements.
Abdulaziz al-Khalifa, chairman of QBIC and CEO of Qatar Development Bank (QDB), visited the workshop last Sunday and welcomed all the entrepreneurs.
“This is a great opportunity for us at QBIC…The infrastructure and the building of QBIC is ready. But this is not about a building, this is about you and this is about human capital. This is about the entrepreneurs who can transform the idea into a real business. This is a great learning opportunity for all of us. We are looking forward to seeing more successful case studies from start-ups and scale-ups,” he said.
Participant Habis Heweil said his project “Umniyyah” is an educational project that aims to develop skills of children. “This programme taught me the fundamentals through which I can start up my own business. What I liked most was the practical experience. The persons involved with us already had actual projects in several countries worldwide. They showed us the magnitude of (the) challenge, whether in relation to a local or a world project, what difficulties we may encounter and how to overcome them,” he added.
Participant Ammar Mohamed, who owns Social Media Solutions Company, said the programme achieved a great deal of “wonderful ideas”. “The distinct thing about the training is the diversity of its content. The trainers guide us whenever we have any questions and issues that we raise. Furthermore, the programme is appropriate for our culture, which is something very important for me,” he said.
Fatimah Fadi, student at Qatar University, said the programme provided a lot of information within a very short period of time. “The good thing about this programme is that they are hosting one of the ‘Top 25 entrepreneurs’ from several parts of the world who have a great deal of experience in many fields and industries. They are now summarising all these experiences and delivering them to us in just one week. Really, this is a great opportunity.”
The Lean Startup coaching programme is organised by instructors from QBIC and Babson College. Professor Les Charm is one of Babson College’s leading entrepreneurship teachers who has spent the last 30 years working with start-ups. Professor Charm has taught throughout the world on a variety of topics regarding entrepreneurship and governance.
QBIC is a leading business incubation centre founded by leading Qatari governmental institutions in entrepreneurship, including QDB and Qatar Foundation’s Social Development Centre, with the goal of developing the next QR100mn companies in Qatar.
