Minister of Business and Commerce HE Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz bin Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and prominent Qatari businessman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani at the award-giving ceremony
By Peter Townson
The grand finale of the Al Fikra National Business Plan Competition was held earlier this week, where plans to introduce an Arabic social networking and gaming platform and an online service to connect students to companies in Qatar won the top professional and student prizes respectively.
The event was attended by HE the Minister of Business and Commerce, Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz bin Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, who presented awards and cheques worth QR200,000 from the Qatar Businessmen Association (QBA) to the winners and two runners-up in both categories.
The competition, organised by Enterprise Qatar in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University, College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Qatar University, Stenden University and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, as well as ictQatar, the QBA and Qatar Development Bank (QDB), pitted more than 230 entrepreneurs against each other for the eight places in the final this week.
The first edition of the competition featured a range of business ideas, and the shortlisted plans were presented to a jury of business experts at the InterContinental hotel this week, when they chose ‘DinoSawUs’ and ‘ConnectMe’ as the winners of a QR50,000 grant each.
The ‘DinoSawUs’ team proposed the creation of an online gaming and social network in Arabic, aimed at promoting local culture and traditions through gameplaying and storytelling.
‘ConnectMe’ was inspired by a gap between graduates and job opportunities, and was devised to provide a platform for students and companies to come together.
Second place in the student category, and QR30,000 was awarded to ‘Radical Sports Qatar,’ who proposed offering radical sporting activities to entertain young people in Qatar, while ‘Al Dallah’?a proposal for an Arabic coffee vending machine, came in third and won QR20,000.
In the professional category, second place was awarded to ‘Pregnant and Pretty,’ a group aimed at supporting and educating young mothers and pregnant women, while the ‘Entalek’ outdoor interactive learning programme earned QR20,000 in third place.
Other ideas that made it to the final included ‘Qatfish’, a proposal to establish a fish and vegetable farm, and ‘Qatar Educational Portal,’ and online community for local students and educators.
Deputy project director of Enterprise Qatar, Noora al-Mannai said: “We’re extremely pleased with the exceptional success of Al Fikra. We would like to extend our thanks to HE Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz bin Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, Minister of Business and Commerce, for his patronage of the competition.”
“Al Fikra, which will be held annually from now on, is a direct result of the enthusiasm and passion of our partners who helped us to achieve such success. Certainly, we believe that Al Fikra is the embodiment of a vision in which entrepreneurs and creative people contribute in order to build the Qatar of tomorrow.”
“Finally, we stress that Enterprise Qatar and all the organisations that participated as sponsors of Al Fikra will remain ready to provide all the resources necessary for entrepreneurs to achieve their potential,” she added.
Al-Mannai spoke about Bill Gates, referring to the drive behind his success as the founder of Microsoft and encouraging businessmen and women in Qatar to follow their dreams and ideas in the same way.?
“Al Fikra directly supports the objectives of Enterprise Qatar; an initiative intended to promote and sustain small and mid-sized enterprises in Qatar and encourage innovation throughout the country,” said a spokesperson, adding “for Enterprise Qatar, organising a business plan competition serves as a mechanism to engage the people of Qatar in entrepreneurial activity.”