Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has launched the sixth edition of its National Business Competition, ‘Al Fikra’, during a press conference yesterday held in the presence of Ooredoo and Sasol – the competition’s official partners, and Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar (CMU-Q) representatives and a number of QDB officials.
Al Fikra is an educational initiative to nurture and develop entrepreneurs in Qatar through workshops aimed at developing their entrepreneurial business ideas and transforming them into successful projects.
The competition also aims to encourage them to establish new companies and promote a culture of entrepreneurship in Qatar, while marking a major milestone in their entrepreneurial career as it empowers them to form partnerships and establish excellent relationships with investment institutions, banks and strategic partners.
Moreover, Al Fikra helps Qatari entrepreneurs hone their skills, develop their capacities and showcase their innovative work, as well as provides them with the necessary support, towards contributing to economic diversification and sustainable development in an innovative way.
The competition also stimulates entrepreneurs’ competitive spirit in coming up with effective solutions to overcome obstacles in the way of their ambitions and entrepreneurial projects. It also comes within the framework of QDB’s strategy to provide all forms of support to the SME sector, leading to economic prosperity.
Al Fikra National Business Competition is supported by Ooredoo as the official communication sponsor, and Sasol as golden sponsors, in addition to the participation of CMU-Q as the competition’s academic partner.
QDB executive director of Strategy & Business Development Hamad al-Kubaisi said: “The launch of the sixth edition of Al Fikra comes in the context of our strong commitment to support and develop the national economy and contribute to the achievement of the Qatar National Vision 2030, by empowering entrepreneurs and SME owners, developing their capacity, and providing them with the support they need to establish a foothold in the Qatari market and develop their businesses.
“The competition paves the way for Qatari entrepreneurs – whether students, professionals or businessmen – to present their ideas and integrated business plans for innovative projects that serve the diversity of the national economy and opens up new business horizons. In its current edition, Al Fikra is evidently the culmination of success of its previous editions, as it has been able to achieve its goals and objectives to promote new projects and creative ideas.”
Ooredoo Qatar chief new business officer Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani said: “Ooredoo is proud to be supporting such as importing programme for Qatar. SMEs and start-ups make up a huge part of Qatar’s businesses, and we have a vision to help digitise and enable these businesses to thrive in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
Al Fikra consists of three stages: evaluating the ideas submitted, providing workshops and training courses for the participant in order to present a clear and integrated business plans, and the presentation of project ideas work that were qualified for the finals to the jury.
QDB executive director of Strategy & Business Development Hamad al-Kubaisi (left) and Ooredoo Qatar chief new business officer Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani speaking at the press conference. PICTURES: Thajudheen
