The awards ceremony took place at Sharq Village & Spa yesterday.
Enterprise Qatar (EQ) yesterday presented awards to the teaching staff of the winning schools that participated in Schools Olympic Programme (SOP)’s inaugural Trade Fair competition, held under the theme “Sport and Investment”.
Enterprise Qatar chief operating officer Nasser al-Muhannadi gave away the awards, paying tribute to the academic staff who guided their students throughout the competition.
Forty schools and 320 students took part in the competition, which required them to create and market products with a sporting theme for sale to the general public.
The 20 best teams were selected for the semi-finals after a first round that saw trade fairs on their respective campuses.
The winners among the boys’ schools were Commercial School (first place), Jassim Bin Hamad School (second), and Saoud Bin Abdul Rahman (third).
A large number of girls’ schools also took part in the event and created a variety of interesting and innovative products, including a number of fashion lines.
The girls’ school winners were Fatima Bint Walid (first), Syrian School (second), and Tunisian School (third).
The Trade Fair competition was organised as part of the sixth edition of SOP and run jointly by EQ and the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC).
The theme for this year’s SOP was “Sport and Investment” and delivered as part of EQ’s mission to foster an entrepreneurial spirit and create a supportive eco-system that contributes to Qatar’s knowledge economy.
Al-Muhannadi said that the schools participating in the Trade Fair created an impressive and creative range of products, generating a significant amount of sales at the Mall and Aspire Zone.
“Our partnership in SOP this year is just one of several programmes that targets school students. The enthusiasm shown by the students has been exceptionally good and we hope that the experience gained will encourage these budding entrepreneurs to think seriously about starting their own businesses in the future. And when they do, EQ will be ready to provide the support that turns business dreams into reality,” he said.
The semi-finals were held at Landmark Mall on March 28 and 29, from which the finalists were selected to compete for the grand prize at the SOP Aspire Zone finals on May 23.
Teams were judged on the originality of their ideas, profit margins and the effectiveness of their ability to work as a team using the traditional roles found in most corporate structures.
The Trade Fair competition was run by the learning and development team at EQ, whose guidance ensured that the teams were able to implement important business principles in the trade stands’ activities.
A team of EQ and QOC officials assessed the stands and selected the winning schools.