More than 110 individuals attended Enterprise Qatar’s (EQ) Al Fikra Awareness Sessions at different locations around the country as part of EQ’s business plan competition.The Al Fikra Awareness Sessions were held at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, the College of the North Atlantic Qatar and the Qatar Chamber for Commerce and Industry (QCCI). University students and professionals from across Qatar attended the sessions. During the sessions, George White, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Curtis Avery, Entrepreneurship Mentor from The College of the North Atlantic–Qatar and Peter Kohut, Director of Risk Management at KPMG, asked potential participants to think big, contribute ideas and to challenge themselves and follow their passion.Ilker Baybars, Dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar said: “We believe that business plan competitions such as this are important to help students and young professionals to develop new and progressive business ideas. Carnegie Mellon is pleased to be a partner in this year’s Al Fikra competition.”Christina Andrews, Journalism major at Northwestern University, was present at a session so that she could learn more about participating in Al Fikra. “The professor of my Entrepreneurial Journalism class told us about Al Fikra. One of our assignments for this course involves submitting a business plan, which made me consider participating in Al Fikra. I am glad that we have contests of this nature in Doha that will equip us and help us to hone our skills, I’m really looking forward to participating in this challenging learning experience.”The Awareness Sessions were held in order to inform participants about the Al Fikra competition, and provide them with information regarding the whole process, from application through participation and beyond. Al Fikra is open to participation from college students, recent graduates, professionals, postgraduates and entrepreneurs as individuals or teams with creative business ideas.The business plans that participants submit will be assessed based on the viability of their idea as well as the possibility of commercialisation and the extent of innovation in addressing a business challenge. The breadth and depth of the business plan and how it relates to the business proposition will also be considered.The winners of the competition will receive QR50,000 as the First Prize, QR30,000 as the Second Prize and QR20,000 as the Third Prize. “We at Enterprise Qatar believe that success and development of economies depend primarily on the health of a vibrant business sector that taps into the leadership qualities, technical knowledge, business skills and focus of young entrepreneurs who are aspiring to succeed and achieve, and are willing to take risks,” said EQ’s CEO Noora al-Mannai.She added: “The various distinct problems that the SMEs and entrepreneurs face mandate that any attempt to tackle such problems should be a product of bundling various support services that are of financial, developmental and technical nature. What we are labouring to achieve at Enterprise Qatar is an ecosystem of support mechanisms for those who are in need of it.”Rashid Sorai al-Kaabi, QCCI board member and industry committee chairman said: “QCCI is delighted to be encouraging young, entrepreneurial talent in Qatar. We believe that these young entrepreneurs are a precious resource and QCCI is very happy to be contributing to their future success by playing an important role in Al Fikra. The support that we are extending is part of our social responsibility agenda since QCCI is committed to developing valuable human resources in Qatar. We fully support Qatar’s national vision of 2030 by playing our part in developing strategies to support economic, social, human and environmental development.” Al-Kaabi went on to say that he appreciates what EQ is doing through Al Fikra for the second consecutive year by supporting new innovative ideas which inspire young entrepreneurs to contribute effectively to Qatar’s national economy. Academic and strategic partners KPMG, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Qatar University, College of the North Atlantic Qatar, Northwestern University of Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and Stenden University; join Enterprise Qatar in organising this prestigious competition. The initiative is fully supported by Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and sponsored by ExxonMobil.