Al Fikra National Entrepreneurship Competition concludes

The Office of Strategic Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (SIEED) at Qatar University (QU), in collaboration with Qatar Development Bank (QDB), hosted the final ceremony for the Al Fikra 2022 competition recently. The national entrepreneurship competition was designed for higher education-led start-up teams to develop their entrepreneurial skills and participate in successful private value-adding businesses. The ceremony commenced with an opening speech by the event host, Dr Mahmoud al-Mahmoud, followed by remarks from QU president Dr Hassan al-Derham, QDB CEO Abdulrahman al-Sowaidi, and SIEED Office director Dr Mahmoud Abdulwahed. Al Fikra 2022 had received submissions from over 575 applicants from different universities and colleges in Qatar. The top 12 finalists were from QU, University of Doha for Science & Technology, Texas A&M University at Qatar, and Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Dr al-Mahmoud said. The occasion saw the finalists from the junior track pitching their start-ups, starting with Vanity team, followed by Bikam, Tripomoria, Skill-Up, Wakala, and Growledge teams. The senior track finalists were Preventive Mobile Security using Secured AI team, then FetalCrae, SocAI, Qawnas Academy, Grocer and AIDENTIST teams. The winners, in the order of first, second and third places, respectively: Junior track - Skill-Up, Growledge, Wakala. Senior track - SocAI, AIDENTIST, FetalCare.