Injaz Qatar, a non-profit organisation and a member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, will host the Mubadara Awards Ceremony at Qatar National Convention Centre on October 16, it was announced.
The event will recognise some of Qatar’s most outstanding young entrepreneurs. This year’s Mubadara Awards Ceremony will be held under the Patronage of HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi.
Mubadara is Injaz Qatar’s most interactive and popular education programme during which student enterprises are established through JA’s globally-recognised ‘Company Programme’ and is a prominent feature in the Injaz Qatar calendar of activities.
At least 19 student teams were provided with the opportunity to establish and run a real business over a period of 10 months with the guidance of professionals from leading businesses across Qatar.
Only 16 student teams made it to the final stage of the programme – 11 student teams from Qatar’s independent secondary schools and five teams from universities in Qatar.
During the programme, students go through the entire life cycle of a startup venture as they develop a business idea, form a team, raise capital of up to QR11,000, devise business plans, and produce and sell a product or a service. Towards the end of the 10-month activity, students will present their entrepreneurial ideas before a judging panel of business leaders from the local market.
In the upcoming Mubadara 2016 Awards Ceremony, the innovative products and services developed by the student companies will be exhibited and the winners of this year’s competition will be announced with the opportunity to represent Qatar at the 2016 regional finals.
Students will vie for one of four awards: ‘The Best Company of the Year’ award sponsored by ExxonMobil, ‘Best Product/Service’ award sponsored by the Commercial Bank, the ‘Best Marketing Plan’ award, and the ‘Best Social Impact’ award.
A new award will be added this year, the ‘Company Programme People’s Choice Award’, when the public will be given a chance to vote for the best company via Instagram. A cheque worth QR5,000 will be presented to the winner by Entrepreneurs Organization Qatar (EO).
The team winning the ‘Best Company of the Year Award’ (University level) will be given ongoing support by Qatar Business Incubation Centre and seed funding of QR35,000 from Boeing to start their real business.
“Through programmes like the wonderful Mubadara competition, young leaders have the opportunity to take innovation to new levels and to ultimately be catalysts of change in their communities. We are proud to support this initiative that provides a platform for young leaders to harness their potential,” said ExxonMobil Qatar president and general manager Alistair Routledge.
Commercial Bank CEO Joseph Abraham said: “Commercial Bank’s collaboration with Injaz is part of our endeavours to promote work-readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship in Qatar through investment in a generation of educated youth who will contribute positively to the local community.  
“The Mubadara competition provides an excellent opportunity to teach young people many essential skills by running a real business over a period of five months with the guidance of professionals from leading businesses across Qatar.”
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