The Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC), a division of Qatar Development Bank (QDB), has announced the launch of the third wave of its Lean Acceleration Programme slated on January 13.
The programme is specifically designed to accelerate the growth of established and promising businesses that show significant potential and to increase their investment readiness. The programme will continue for three months with 14 startups taking part and concludes in April at Demo Day.
Commenting on the occasion, Hamad al-Qahtani, general manager of QBIC, said: “The Lean Acceleration Programme differs from the Lean Startup Programme as it was designed for established and promising startups and is a reflection of QBIC’s true value.
“We aim not only to incubate promising entrepreneurs and their business ideas, but also contribute to the development of tangible Qatari success stories that can evolve, flourish, and grow beyond Qatar.”
The programme aims to develop existing businesses by stimulating their sales and marketing mechanism through four main components: access to local, regional, and international customers in the private and public sectors; administrative and technical talents; smart funding facilitation; and coaching and mentoring.
Startups can qualify for the programme based on a number of requirements, including their product or service offering, proof of recurring monthly revenue, having at least one full-time co-founder, experience with the business model canvas, and the ability to commit to the programme.
The programme concludes with a Demo Day, which allows the best performing startups to pitch their businesses to prominent investors and stakeholders from Qatar and beyond, with the purpose of securing investments that will boost the acceleration and growth of their companies.
In addition to the Lean Acceleration Programme, QBIC offers several other incubation programmes catering to local entrepreneurs, which cover the full business growth cycle. This includes the flagship Lean Startup Programme, which enables entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into viable businesses.
In addition to this, QBIC offers other specialised programmes to support Qatar’s economic framework and to develop entrepreneurial skills, such as the Lean Manufacturing Programme, the Lean Fashion Programme, and the Lean Coach Programme. To learn more about QBIC and its newest programmes, visit www.qbic.qa.