Ooredoo, QBIC renew ties for ‘Digital & Beyond’ incubator

Ooredoo has renewed its partnership with the Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC), a Qatar Development Bank (QDB) incubator, for the continuation of its ‘Digital & Beyond’ incubator.The agreement was made official at a signing ceremony during the Digital & Beyond Roadshow at Ooredoo Tower Wednesday, renewing the partnership for another three years.Ooredoo CEO Sheikh Ali bin Jabor al-Thani said, "We have a firm strategic commitment to investment in innovation and technology and fully support our country in the Qatar National Vision 2030, a key aim of which is complete digitalisation."Partnering with entities, such as QBIC enables us to make a solid contribution to our country’s development by supporting and building the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.”Ooredoo’s partnership with QBIC was cemented in 2016 with the establishment of Digital & Beyond, aimed at enabling entrepreneurs to launch new technology-focused businesses in Qatar.The techco has helped a number of pre-seed and seed-stage start-ups launch and develop through the Digital & Beyond incubator, a specialised initiative dedicated to the development and acceleration of promising technology-focused start-ups in Qatar with the aim of empowering the next generation of innovative businesses via a holistic range of support and funding solutions.QDB acting CEO Abdulrahman Hesham al-Sowaidi said the bank’s partnership with Ooredoo’s has gained momentum over the years, "transitioning from a pure development-centred initiative towards an investment-oriented one that helps startups expand and grow.”He said, "Since 2016, Digital & Beyond has graduated 116 startups from QBIC’s Lean Startup and Lean Acceleration programmes and we are fully committed through this partnership to empower the next wave of tech startups, providing them with access to capabilities development, coaching and mentoring essential funding to grow their business, and enabling them to adopt industry-transforming technology, such as AI and IoT.”The Digital & Beyond incubator offers training programmes and competitions, such as hackathons, the Lean Start-up Programme, the Lean Acceleration Programme, and the Investment Readiness Bootcamp, as well as showcasing events like Demo Day where start-ups pitch for investment from the Digital & Beyond fund.Selected start-ups receive investment and incubation from QBIC for one year, which covers coaching, exposure opportunities, and market access.Sheikh Ali said, "We were hugely encouraged to see the progress our six existing incubated start-ups have made so far at our Digital & Beyond Roadshow and we are excited to see what other talents will be uncovered in the coming years. Our thanks go to QBIC for placing their trust in us as a partner in our joint efforts to drive innovation and development in Qatar.”